If old-school, methodical, and intelligent science fiction like Alien and Moon are up your alley more than those blockbusters, Europa Report is a movie you need to seek out. You probably haven't even heard of it.
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Compared to everything else out there, Elysium is a step up, but isn't going to end 2013 as the best science fiction effort of the year.
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Lovelace plays its chipper hand of 1970's decadence like a Boogie Nights prequel.
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To its great credit, Drinking Buddies never settles for any of those obvious scenarios and twists. It takes a more elusive and challenging route once the couples combine on a double-date weekend at Chris's lake house. The mistakes, flaws, and opportunities you think are coming, because you've seen this kind of movie before, don't materialize like you think. Some don't materialize at all. The waters are murkier than first thought. If you prefer your movies predictable and formulaic, you've come to the wrong place. At the same time, it's still missing a bit of the charm it promised with its setup.
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I've had my eyes opened wider within the last two years to the increasing market of films that are using Video On-Demand (VOD) services to broaden their audience reach. So much of it makes sense and yet so few people know this new avenue and market for movies. Let me try to shed some light on it.
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The Company You Keep is an impressive political and journalism thriller that keeps its story at an approachable and realistic level without evolving into wild disbelief like so many other fictional films in this genre.
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The Wolverine is a tangent standalone story that follows up one of the two post-credit teases that came out of X-Men: Origins Wolverine. This film showcases Logan's storied history in Japan that is loosely based off a much-loved four-issue 1982 comic mini-series by writer Chris Claremont and artist Frank Miller. This is the movie we should have gotten four years ago. It's far from a perfect movie, but far from a bad one as well.
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Only God Forgives is everything Drive was only slower, quieter, dumber, and more incoherent in every methodical way possible. It's yet another case of something that is all style and no substance or point.
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The Way Way Bank isn't going for American Pie-style raunch to prove its comedy. It would rather charm you with heart. That's what makes it great.
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BLIND SPOT REVIEW #1: Rosemary's Baby
Going back and seeing the movies I should have seen or always wanted to see, but missed.
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The latest giddy summer spectacle, Pacific Rim, will be the torch bearer of guilty pleasure for the decade of the 2010's. Mark my words on that. Plenty will love it now and, don't get me wrong, there is plenty here to love. Still, an equal plenty will regret it later and increasingly roll their eyes with every repeat viewing as the movie gets overshadowed by the next shiny object birthed by Hollywood hit factories.
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As a movie nerd at heart, the visuals of the city and its skyline that have shown up in popular movies have become my go-to landmarks and conversation starters. I point to a spot, mention the movie, and it all clicks. Since it's been quite a while since I've written a good editorial "10 Best" list, I've decided to make Chicago the subject. Here, with a couple of shameless ties, are my picks for the ten best movies filmed and set in Chicago.
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