Godzilla redefines the blockbuster as art-house cinema
Jeremy Saulneir’s thriller Blue Ruin focuses on a mysterious outsider who returns to his childhood home to plot an act of vengeance, a deed that...
What, exactly, was the point of rebooting the Spider-Man franchise with 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man? Arriving in theaters just five years after the incredibly lackluster...
Have you noticed how very boilerplate superhero movies have become? Everything is interchangeable — from the hero and his or her specific degree of angst,...
We don't glamorize physics. Whether theoretical or experimental, there's very little recognition of the incredible, fascinating work that those dedicated to either side of the...
''It's not your regular old Oscar party,'' Michael Fowler says of Glamour, Glitter & Gold. ''It's The DC Center's Oscar party – but on hyper-drive.''...
American Hustle is of and about bullshit. Director David O. Russell soaks in it, drenching his movie with scams so shrewd it's tough to tell...
This was a strange, strange year for movies. Every big summer release fell short of expectations -- I'm looking at you Pacific Rim, Man of...
Like all of the best characters invented by Joel and Ethan Coen, Llewyn Davis is a loser. He's hugely talented, terribly haunted, and the persistent...
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is about an egomaniacal monster, hell-bent on hoarding his treasures above all else. He surrounds himself with a mountain...
There's a menace poisoning the modern Hollywood drama. It's wearing an unfamiliar face, but the symptoms are easily identified. The lazy use of narrative cliché....
The mood of a franchise film matters. Consider the effect it can have on character, story and purpose. What would Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy be...
The American dream, more than whatever else, is a longing for health and wealth. We want to live and make good livings. So, naturally, the...
When you sit in a movie theater, you sit inside a contradiction. The theater creates a wall between your mind and body -- the lights...
The heavens are silent. It's a matter of science. There's no air pressure in a vacuum, so in space, there's no sound. That's why we...