Adorned with the weights of divorce, loss, and tested friendship, “The Invitation” wears those issues like a cloak to hide its real menacing intent and implications underneath. Karyn Kusama’s film holds a marvelous poker face that siphons your piqued curiosity and unraveling attention. “The Invitation” might be labeled as a horror film, but it far better fits the prodigious “mindfuck film” subgenre. Enjoy the steady increased heart rate and spinning cerebrum this film has to offer.
Read MoreThrough two parallel veins of his filmmaking career, director Richard Linklater freely operates between free-wheeling fun and poignant realism with scant middle ground. His movies are either a party or a deep character study. Kick back and turn off the introspection for "Everybody Wants Some!!" This is a shameless dudes' flick and Party Linklater of the highest order. Those of you with Y chromosomes are going to love every minute.
Read MoreTo sneak preview a later life lesson in this review, you could trade the Greek demographic of the central Portokalos family in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" with any other American immigrant nationality and get much of the same effect. Nearly all people are being both defined by and embarrassed by their family. Whether you're Greek or not, you will watch both original and the sequel and poke fun at the similarities and differences. Such is an easy draw, but that charm has limits in a been-there-done-that sequel.
Read MoreCreating entertaining biopics about a universally disgraced figure are a hard sell under that key word of "entertaining." If they attempt to create sympathy, a duel of alienation and bias can arise. A good, thought-provoking movie has to fearlessly dig deeper. As Van der Rohe is attributed to saying, "the devil is in the details." Exposing the sordid and untold details of what led to the subject's defamation is where your film gets interesting. The rise and fall of champion cyclist Lance Armstrong is fertile ground and a fresh wound that has yet to be solved. "The Program," directed "Philomena" and "The Queen" Oscar nominee Stephen Frears, pedals uphill in attempting to shine a light on the dark details.
Read MoreLast summer, the chief complaints of "Jurassic World" were its lack of majesty and awe to follow the original "Jurassic Park." One can now say the very same about the new long-distance sequel "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny." The soulful beating heart that stirred the 2000 winner of four Academy Awards has been stifled to large degree. The dazzling and balletic flight of fancy that we fell in love with then has been replaced by repetitive flashiness driven by a different audience.
Read MoreIf you are not a die-hard geek or comic book fan, there's a chance you've never heard of "Deadpool." After this Presidents' Day/Valentine's Day holiday weekend, you will never forget him. Take all of the pathos, mythology, gravitas, nobility, and world-rescuing heroism have you come to expect from a superhero film, throw them out the window, and light them on fire. "Deadpool" is the most red-faced and side-splitting movie of the comic genre to date.
Read MoreThe subject of "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" is the tepidly-reviewed non-fiction book written by Mitchell Zuckoff about what transpired during the September 11-12, 2012 attacks on U.S. government facilities in Libya. Zuckoff's book and the film is told from the point of view of the security contractors that worked for the CIA at that time. The book sought to tell the harrowing story without siding with any politics. Michael Bay's film cannot help itself from taking brotherhood-fueled sides and blow everything up.
Read MoreIt is time to go on record and add another label to the colorful list to describe filmmaker Quentin Tarantino: "acquired taste." Even with his recent success, the auteur's excessive and aestheticized indulgences are catching up to him. Each subsequent film of his may be getting more popular, but they are not getting better and "The Hateful Eight" hammers that point home. Swelled to either a 167-minute straight cut or a 187-minute opus complete with overture and intermission, Tarantino's newest film doesn't know when to quit. It just goes and dies, literally and figuratively.
Read MoreAny time a film about a real-life whistleblower steps into view, the central question almost always becomes "Is it really true?" Audiences are commonly kind to a good human interest story of this sort, especially when it is spun into an entertaining drama or comedy. However, they are equally quick to disown one that stretches its claims of truth too far. Knowing that dramatization will always be a prominent ingredient in these types of films "based on a true story," we have to settle for asking "Is it true enough?" Such is the weighty burden of "Concussion," starring Will Smith and directed by Peter Landesman.
Read MoreFollowing his three-trophy Oscar haul for "Birdman" last year, filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu returns with an even more expansive cinematic challenge. Inspired by a wild true story, "The Revenant" is an unrelenting survival drama that makes "Cast Away" look like a cute day at the beach. Powered by raw natural beauty and a constant nerve of savage peril, Inarritu's film succeeds with striking artistry and superior craftsmanship in polishing a harsh and rough-hewn legend. Four-time Academy Award nominee Leonardo DiCaprio pushes himself and you over edge after edge in the most challenging performance of his career.
Read MoreDirected by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, “Youth” is a cornucopia of quirk colliding with decadence. We get to see how the other half lives through messy characters making sense of their lives while soaking in a lavish vacation. Thanks to a stellar cast and brilliant performances, “Youth” surprises us to show how much interest and intrigue can be found in foppish people we normally wouldn’t closely identify with as an audience.
Read MorePicture your personal influences, either worshiped or admired, and imagine being granted the opportunity to have a conversation with them. What would you talk about? What would you ask them? How would it change you? In the world of cinema, such a conversation happened between a then-neophyte auteur Francois Truffaut and the aging master Alfred Hitchock in 1962. Their documented meeting has gone on to inspire generations of future filmmakers and cinephiles.
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