Believe the hype. Since it’s debut at Cannes several months ago,?Canadian?filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s latest film, Sicario, has garnered a great deal of buzz. ?If you haven’t heard of Villeneuve, you will. ?He’s quickly becoming one of Hollywood’s brightest directors, having broken through with intense dramas like Prisoners?and Enemy. ?(He’s also been chosen to direct the…
What a difference thirty years can make. Case in point: back in 1958 when David Hedison portrayed the title role in The Fly, he ended up buzzing around as an itsy bitsy insect with his still quite human (yet miniaturized) head and arm intact. Shocking for the time, perhaps, but kinda fun. Fast forward to…
“We were looking for America’s soul.” Say what you will about controversial director Michael Moore, but he certainly knows how to stir up conversation. ?For over twenty-five years, Moore has cried out on behalf of the American poor and downtrodden, fearlessly stepping on the toes of the rich and powerful. ?He has never had a…
Most films?culminate in a big screen moment, whether it’s the dramatic reunion of long lost loved ones or the explosive battle royale.?90 Minutes in Heaven?is that rare film that starts at the end, and then moves forward to what comes after that. Under the artful direction of Michael Polish (Big Sur), Hayden Christensen and Kate…
If we’re honest with ourselves, we have questions about what happens next. In the next five minutes, the next five years, in the next … hereafter. Our fiction reflects this, as we read stories and watch movies about people who live forever, people who create technology to extend life, and people who come back…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Two brothers commit a violent crime; one brother goes to jail and is completely tormented by life beyond bars, while the other tries to make amends (and finds love). Once released, the first/older brother urges the other/younger brother to do “one last job” to make things right,…
In August, over the course of seventy-two hours, I watched the fascinating (and creepy) thriller?Amnesiac,?followed by?the based-on-a-memoir biopic 90 Minutes From Heaven. I quickly realized that even though?the two films were wildly different, they both starred the effervescent Kate Bosworth under the direction of her husband, director Michael Polish. So, I did what any inquisitive…
One, two;?Freddy’s coming for you. That’s it. If done properly, in that sing-song, little-kid-nursery-rhyme-double-Dutch kind of way, that’s all you have to say and immediately, horror fans will know what you’re talking about. And grown men may shudder. Those words (and the remaining twenty-two that finish out the mythic urban-legendary poem) and a few wordless…
M.C. Gainey has been the face of evil?for years. The journeyman actor has played Tom Friendly in?Lost and Bo Crowder in?Justified, with guest appearances in series from?Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?to?CSI and supporting roles in various movies over the last thirty-five years. This fall, he’s an integral part of?The Pardon, a film that follows the story…
I was skeptical of George Miller’s sequel to his?Road Warrior?films after so many years away. Seriously, he made?Babe?and two?Happy Feet?movies more recently than he told a Mad Max story. How could?Fury Road?be any good? But as I admitted here, I thought the film was the best I’d seen this year – and it’s still my…
