“City of Dreams” is a movie with a mission: to raise awareness about child trafficking. However, as a work of fiction “inspired by true events,” it leaves much to be desired. It is a sensationalized portrait of the problem, the kind of movie that doesn’t pull at the heartstrings so much as it takes a […]
There are few things a microbudget Canadian thriller director loves more than a judiciously-placed woodland setting. That’s certainly true of actor-director Adam MacDonald, who previously crafted wilderness chillers “Backcountry” and “Pyewacket,” both of which use Canada’s voluminous forests to spine-tingling effect. In his latest, “Out Come the Wolves,” he dips back into the woodsy well
When one thinks of the concept of the celebrity persona, it can range from the handcrafted (a la early Lady Gaga) to the authentically alluring (a la always Rihanna) or highly contentious (the late Joan Rivers). Magnetic figures often have a pronounced degree of accessibility or pointed refusal of it (that’s why “I’m Still Here”
Our 40th President remains something of a cipher: Ronald Reagan was a small-town boy turned movie star, union leader, and a politician whose folksy demeanor in the Oval Office contrasted with the furthest-right economic and national security policies in decades. It’s still unclear whether the man nicknamed “The Great Communicator” was good at making complicated
By now, most reasonably savvy moviegoers are well aware that Labor Day weekend tends to be an especially dire period for anyone looking to painlessly kill a couple of hours in the multiplex. The only things that seem to open (“escape” is probably a more suitable term) then are misbegotten messes that are dumped out
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and the revenge dished up in “The Wasp” has been in the freezer for 15 years. The revenge is so cold that it’s camouflaged as something else. The film leads you to think it’s about one thing, but what we are watching is not, actually, what we think
The generally underrated Liev Schreiber anchors Paula Ortiz’s subtle and graceful adaptation of one of Ernest Hemingway’s final novels, “Across the River and Into the Trees.” Schreiber is a consistently engaging performer I became very attuned to his approach by recapping years of episodes of “Ray Donovan” and he shines here by virtue of what
Count “1992” as one of those films with its heart in the right place but its execution in the wrong space. Set on April 29, 1992, the day of the Rodney King verdict, this is a surprisingly uncomplicated film, one that attempts to balance its heist-thriller elements with its combustible racial milieu. It features Tyrese
In the 1970s, New York Mets pitcher Tug McGraw made “Ya Gotta Believe” the catch phrase adopted by the fans as the Mets went on a historic run to end the 1973 season. It is an apt title for this telling of another scrappy, fact-based come-from-behind baseball story, this one a group of Fort Worth
Immigrant stories put a fresh frame around lives that native-born citizens don’t think too deeply about. Science fiction movies can do the same, but in a more exaggerated fashion, revealing the surreal eeriness of the “normal.” You can see this dynamic on display in “The Becomers,” writer-director Zach Clark’s movie about extraterrestrials coming to earth
