As Mad Men ended this week, taking with it TV’s best examination of the shifting climate of post-war America, it made sense as resident Rooster Illusion superhero guy to re-examine DC’s own take on the mid-century American condition in Justice League: The New Frontier. The plot: As Cold War tensions escalate following World War II, a McCarthy-led initiative…
Usually when an actor decides to write, produce, direct, and star in a movie, disaster hides just around the corner, an elbow clearly visible, alerting you to its presence, warning you of an impending “boo!”, one that you lack the strength to avoid because, damn it, disaster just endears to you so much, and could…
It Follows (2015): The Plot: The trailer does a great job of laying out the premise, and I’d rather not spoil too many plot points. Just ALL OF THE THEMES: One of the many strengths of It Follows is that It is never explained. Once the central premise is laid out, that’s all she wrote.…
In naming a movie WolfCop, you are pretty assuredly guaranteed an audience of at a certain kind of vintage VHS (or Laserdisc)-obsessed cinephile. For my own part, I understood as soon as I heard the title it was only a matter of time until I saw it. WolfCop lives up to its cinema dork-savvy title, but takes some…
Ex Machina (2015) The Plot: Upon winning an employee lottery at the largest software company in the world, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a young programmer, gets an all-expenses-paid visit to the isolated pseudo-futuristic home of the company’s founder and president, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Before long, Caleb realizes that his reward is far from a comfortable vacation…
Well, judging from the opening weekend box office records, statistically you have seen Avengers: Age of Ultron. Seriously, the only film opening better than the Avengers is The Avengers. The culmination of the four previous movies of Marvel’s “phase 2”, Age of Ultron is a 2 1/2 hour juggernaut of a superhero adventure, one which highlights the best and worse…
A few months ago I reviewed the somewhat popular Oscar-nominated based-on-a-true-story film Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon as a woman whose life has become so clumsily screwed-up that she must embark upon an epic hike of self-discovery. Despite the best efforts of the film’s director, I kind of liked Wild. I bring it up now, because…
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