The story being told in “Searching for Sugar Man” is 15 years old, yet it didn’t become a documentary until 2012. Seeing as the film centers on a man who never received the fame he deserved until long after the fact, that’s quite fitting.
Archives
Fall Movie Preview 2013
This summer gave us quite the array of entertainment, from sci-fi blockbusters to coming-of-age films, but now things shift toward the awards contenders. I know, it feels like the Oscars were last month, but if Movie Muse is your only source of film anything, then you likely actually do think it was last month given […]
Elysium Review
Eagerly we have awaited Neill Blomkamp’s follow-up to “District 9,” which gave audiences an almost unrivaled combination of entertainment, mystery, emotion and intelligence. The bar was understandably high for “Elysium,” an even glossier film with bigger stars and a higher concept with higher stakes.
We’re the Millers Review
The most effective comedies tend to be the ones you swear you’ve seen before yet you can’t name any other just like it. “We’re the Millers” has lots of familiar pieces but puts them together in a new-ish package. Often funny, sometimes hilarious and always amusing, “Millers” doesn’t raise the bar for R-rated comedy, but […]
Prince Avalanche Review
If two dudes quarrel in the woods … do they make a sound? Director David Gordon Green has graciously stepped back from making underachieving R-rated comedies to give us what could end up amounting to an underachieving R-rated comedy, but in truth offers a good deal more.
Oblivion Review
“Oblivion” is so visually crisp and clean that you could actually brush your teeth with it. Director Joseph Kosinski, who pieced together the aesthetically immaculate “Tron: Legacy” takes a similar approach in adapting his graphic novel for the big screen, and with some solid screen writing help, “Oblivion” feels especially worth of the “science-fiction” label.
The Wolverine Review
Throughout the course of the modern superhero era, one thing has stayed true: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. After being a successful piece of the “X-Men” franchise for three films, Wolverine got his own solo gig in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which turned out to be a chaotic smear of superhero film with a cliché-ridden script. […]
The Conjuring Review
James Wan must feel like he’s got something to prove. The filmmaker has had success more than once (“Saw” and “Insidious”) in a horror genre that has been obnoxiously stagnant in recent years (everything is either a haunted house or exorcism film). “The Conjuring” is both, so more of the same for Wan.
Pacific Rim Review
Movies don’t get much more straightforward than giant robots battling giant monsters from another dimension. The giant monster movie is a classic genre, so in this age of all Hollywood blockbusters feeling pressured to earn their stripes by leveling a major world city, a return to these roots was inevitable. “Pacific Rim” delivers that old-school […]
Give it to Me G Rated: Why I Still Love Animated Movies
I am a 20-something male who has no children, and I watch animated movies. I would normally preface such a statement by outwardly saying that this is something I’m not ashamed to admit it, but I felt no need to blanket it with any kind of qualifier because I know I’m not alone. Animated/family films […]
This Is 40 Review
Judd Apatow continues to get personal with “This Is 40″—maybe even too personal. When you think about it, it’s kind of awkward that he directs Paul Rudd as husband to his real-life wife (Leslie Mann) and father to his real-life children (Maude and Iris Apatow) and it’s really awkward because the film is about family […]
A Good Day to Die Hard Review
Bruce Willis has proved himself to be an ageless wonder. Although the roles he has chosen of late (“RED,” Old Joe in “Looper,” “The Expendables 2” and playing the original G.I. Joe in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation”) suggest he’s playing the “aging action star” card, his box-office draw has been consistent if not downright reliable.
Man of Steel Review
In this superhero-obsessed culture/Hollywood world we live in, it’s a wonder that the grand-daddy of them all, Superman, hasn’t had a successful debut in the 21st Century. Obviously I’ve just implicitly bashed 2006’s “Superman Returns,” which I will not be taking the time to discuss beyond this sentence, but I don’t think anyone disagrees that […]
Jack Reacher Review
A man who doesn’t play by the law when it comes to delivering justice isn’t an original idea for a main character, and Tom Cruise is far from an original action star, but somehow “Jack Reacher” doesn’t suffer too much from being stale.
Beyond Diabolical: Hollywood’s New Breed of Supervillain
Wanting to destroy the world just doesn’t cut it these days. Wealth, power and greed? Kid stuff. As Heath Ledger’s Joker said, “this city deserves a better class of criminal, and I’m gonna give it to them.” Who knew that by “city” he meant Hollywood?
