Hugo Weaving's niece, Samara Weaving is fun to watch, but "Ready or Not" finds itself caught between horror and comedy...and it comes up short in both areas.
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Director Richard Linklater has been on quite a roll with a string of fantastic films, but even the greats deserve a mulligan.
Look, this movie is not for everyone. But welcome to the new sub-genre of horror, the Ari Aster film.
Adam Sandler's recent Netflix special, "100% Fresh," is maybe the funniest thing you'll see all year. But his rotten streak gets reset with this flat, lifeless dud.
Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Western, Mystery, Comedy
Run Time: 3 hours, 2 minutes, Rated R Starring: Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Demian Bichir, James Parks, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Channing Tatum, Keith Jefferson Written & Directed by Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) Quentin Tarantino is a film preservationist at heart: His movies attempt to bottle up the essence of films gone-by. Once bottled, he then shakes it vigorously before letting it forcefully explode all over the big-screen. A "Tarantino" film" now has taken on its own meaning...it comes with its own expectations, of sharp dialogue, innovative story-telling and of course, splatters of blood, gore and violence that borders on the cartoonish. When Tarantino points his salvo at the big-screen and fires, it usually results in a burst of unpredictable exuberance...the shock felt when a cork pops off a fine Don Perignon...the fizz and energy of something that was just waiting to erupt into the world. At times, this approach can, and has, resulted in a huge mess. The Hateful Eight (opening today) is the latest film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and like every other one of is his films, it is instantly recognizable as such. If you have acquired a taste for Quentin's brew, then you will be fully satisfied with it. But if you were hoping that he would show some restrain following his last, effective but bloated effort, the 2012 Western, Django Unchained, you'll be sorely disappointed. Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Mystery, Thriller
Run Time: 1 hours, 48 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton Written and Directed by Joel Edgerton (directorial debut) Actor Joel Edgerton has nearly done it all. As mostly a character-actor, he's a guy that you see and recognize from...somewhere...but he has not quite reached the "A-List" despite an acting career that has spanned over 20 years. Funny how things work: It turns out Joel Edgerton is also a skilled writer/director, if his debut film in both of those categories, The Gift (opening today), is any indication. He definitely leaves a mark and is bound to turn some heads with this gripping but far from perfect, mystery-thriller. Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Mystery
Run Time: 1 hour 40 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jonah Hill, James Franco, Felicity Jones, Gretchen Mol Based on the memoir by Michael Finkel Written and Directed by Rupert Goold (feature-film directorial debut) True Story (opening today), like most "true stories" that make it to the big screen, is only based on a true story, with the usual number of movie-making stretches thrown in to try to spice things up. But the taste of this one is still bland. The over-riding problem with this true crime tale is that it's as manipulative as its subject, which might have been by design, but nothing ends up ringing "true" at all. Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Run Time: 1 hours, 59 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring : Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser Directed by Wally Pfister (feature-film directorial debut, long-time Cinematographer) Johnny Depp stars as Will Caster, a leading artificial intelligence researcher in the heady, new science fiction thriller, Transcendence (opening today). It's a film with a quite interesting premise that feels badly undercooked. The first half of the film is slow and clunky but its major flaw is that it betrays the golden rule of science fiction: You must set rules within your world and all of what happens must make sense within those rules. Transcendence does not play by the rules, and in this case, that's a very bad thing. Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
Run Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris Co-written by Jonas & Alfonso Cuaron Directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) "Wow" is the appropriate one-word review for Gravity (opening today). It is the rare film that must be experienced, because to merely watch it would not do it justice. Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Run Time: 1 hours, 36 minutes, Rated R Starring: Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Jim Broadbent, Ciaran Hinds, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Written by Steven Knight (Redemption, Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things) Directed by John Crowley (Is Anybody There?, Boy A, Intermission) Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall star in your average, run-of-the-mill procedural, Closed Circuit (opening today), a film that feels both familiar and dull all at once. |
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