Ad Astra (Latin for “to the stars”) is the latest in a recent line of existential space oddities—Gravity (2013), Interstellar (2014), The Martian ((2015)—whose redemptive features involve looking inward and reassessing one’s own life and relationships while, at the same time, looking for the signs of intelligent life elsewhere. Brad […]
Brad Pitt
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Hollywood, 1969. Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) former star of the hit NBC TV Western series Bounty Law (1958-63) is on the ropes. His career could’ve taken off like Eastwood and McQueen’s but due to a string of mishaps and bad calls (mostly by his own hand) he’s been left taking […]
How often do you see a star-packed mainstream film whose focus is the sexual abuse of children in the penal system? Sleepers was not a resounding success upon its release, perhaps the material was deemed a bit too controversial for the time. Regardless it’s a provocative film that not only […]
Introduction Quentin Tarantino‘s upcoming film, entitled “Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood” immediately brings to mind the amazing cinema of Sergio Leone. It is set to be an opus in the tradition of QT’s own 1994 award winning hit Pulp Fiction, the movie that became a pop culture sensation and […]
In early October, Alfonso Cuarón’s space drama Gravity was on everyone’s lips as a shoe-in at the upcoming Oscars. It was king of the box office throughout the month and it seemed impossible to meet someone who wasn’t raving about how great the film is. In the past few weeks, […]
Marc Forster certainly believes in bad luck. In “World War Z” (2013), Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) is stuck with his family in gridlocked Philadelphian traffic when a zombie outburst reduces the population to frenzied chaos, people running screaming, panic spreading as potently as the zombie virus. Forster shoots it handheld […]
When it comes to female empowerment films, this 1991 crime drama/road adventure directed by Ridley Scott stands above the rest. The story focuses on best friends Thelma (Geena Davis) a housewife and Louise (Susan Sarandon) a waitress. After planning a weekend getaway in the mountains the two pals pack their […]
I can’t really say that I’ve ever left a crime thriller with my stomach in a knot. I didn’t know it was possible for the crime thriller genre, which seems to be stuck on repeat and incapable of surprises, was fully capable of coming up with something that would truly […]
Our latest analytical article looks at two films by David Fincher and compares and contrasts themes and characters that connect the movies. “The game is tailored specifically to each participant. Think of it as a great vacation, except you don’t go to it, it comes to you.” In the 1997 […]
If you’ve got a halfway decent taste in movies, then the name Terrence Malick will ring a bell. It’s not one of those super-busy actors who make a popcorn movie every other year. He’s more like Thomas Pynchon, lives in seclusion, makes a hit every once in a while, and […]