Back in the early 2000s, Roger Ebert dubbed Minority Report a “triumph” during a time, as he called it, “when movies think they have to choose between action and ideas.” And this was during a creative era for Spielberg, when the iconic director felt emboldened to explore new territory. UFOs may not be fresh material for the E.T. filmmaker, but Disclosure Day feels very
Read MoreCarolina Caroline is a good example of the type of film that knows the influences it’s built on and uses them to full advantage. Crime thrillers, both old and new, in one way or another, have deep roots in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, which revolutionized how we view the intertwining of sharply impactful thrills and biting commentary in American cinema. In
Read MoreFour years after the release of Beast, it might be logical for Icelandic genre filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur to eventually direct a film with the title Apex in it. That said, no apex predators are found in this two-hander survival thriller between a hunter and the hunted. Such a simple premise as the one found in Kormákur’s latest should exalt tangible thrills,
Read MoreIf you were disappointed by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, look no further than Exit 8, a video game adaptation that actively respects fans of the original source material. Writer/director Genki Kawamura develops a visual language that’s very much in line with the atmospheric experience of playing Kotake Create’s mind-bending walking simulator. In fact, Kawamura is more concerned with the atmospheric
Read MoreOut of all the films to get a potential sequel, Ready or Not certainly isn’t the first that most would think of, mainly because that film left its ending pretty clear cut with not a ton of directions to go down. But directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (known together as Radio Silence) seem well aware of falling into the dreaded
Read MoreMany might not know that John Patton Ford’s latest film, How to Make a Killing, is loosely based on Robert Hamer’s 1949 classic Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. The 1949 film was adapted from Roy Horniman’s Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal. If you’ve seen Hamer’s film, chances are you’ve seen Patton Ford’s reinterpretation. It sadly doesn’t do much to
Read MoreThe great formalist Sam Raimi has done it again with Send Help and continues to prove why he’s one of the best genre artists working today. Of course, it (pun intended) helps that his two leads, Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, go all in with Raimi’s flashy, kinetic expressions, as the two protagonists fight for survival within the confines of a
Read MoreAs J. Daniel Atlas states in this film, “In the world of magic, everything that disappears reappears.” The same rings true for the franchise itself, as Now You See Me: Now You Don’t marks the return of the film series after nearly 10 years. The mix of absolute absurdity within the confines of what a magic trick can truly be compared
Read MoreDarren Aronofsky has always been a tricky filmmaker to pin down. A filmography featuring crowd-pleasing award winners like The Whale and Black Swan, alongside divisive films like Noah and Mother!, is certainly fascinating, to say the least. This inherently makes his ninth feature, Caught Stealing, fascinating since it contains all the pieces of him as a filmmaker that have stood out
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