Gary Oldman
Movie Review: Oppenheimer
With "Oppenheimer," Christopher Nolan crafts a biopic that fascinates and provokes, and is one of this summer's rare movies with something on its mind.
Win Advance Passes to See DARKEST HOUR
Enter here for your chance to win a pair of passes to an advance screening of the new film DARKEST HOUR starring Gary Oldman. For your chance to receive a pair of complimentary passes to see the new film DARKEST HOUR at the MJR Troy Theater in Troy, Michigan on Wednesday, December 6th at 7:00PM, just look for the “Enter the Contest” box further down on this page. But hurry because ther...[Read More]
Movie Review: RoboCop
RoboCop (2014) is a straight-up reboot and retelling of the original RoboCop (1987). Once again, a Detroit-based cop is murdered and used for an experiment in modern policing by the shadowy corporation OmniCorp, to promote their own interests rather than to truly protect the public it supposedly serves. The hero is Alex Murphy/RoboCop (Joel Kinnaman). He is a good cop and family man. Murphy patrol...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: The Future of Law Enforcement Lacks Substance in RoboCop
We’re in a bit of a lull as far as movie releases are concerned right now, as we wait for the award season films to start rolling in. Of course, this also means we’ll start getting trailers for the movies coming out in 2014. In this week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’, I take aim at the first trailer for next year’s remake of the 1987 Paul Verhoeven masterpiece Rob...[Read More]
Movie Review: Lawless
Back when running moonshine in the hills of Virginia was a logical fair trade to counter-balance the social effects of alcohol prohibition, three brothers used their massive stills and the eldest sibling’s quiet brawn to distribute what in theory was booze, but was also potent enough to run a motor vehicle if need be. The Bondurant brothers – Jack, Howard, and Forrest – distill “White Lightning” i...[Read More]
Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises
I’ve been eagerly anticipating The Dark Knight Rises (and secretly dreading it) ever since the release of Batman Begins. The anticipation came from wanting to see what Christopher Nolan did next and the dread came from knowing this was it. Well, the time has come for the final installment in Nolan’s treatment of the Batman universe, and without spoiling anything, this Bat-geek loved it. The Dark K...[Read More]
Batman on Film: Christopher Nolan Resurrects the Dark Knight
In the first half hour of Batman Begins, Thomas Wayne asks young Bruce this question after he falls into a well: “Why do we fall Bruce?” The answer to the elder Wayne’s question is so we can learn to pick ourselves up. Batman fell down pretty hard during Joel Schumacher’s watch and it was up to Christopher Nolan to pick the franchise back up. And pick it up Nolan did…so much so, that I don’t think...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: The Dark Knight Rises Promises an Epic Conclusion
Now that The Avengers has been released – it’s awesome, go see it if you haven’t – and the summer movie season has officially begun, the new trailers will be coming in fast and furious. Attached to Marvel’s comic book opus are the final trailers for the other big superhero films of the summer: The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man. With two such high-profile trailers b...[Read More]
Bela Lugosi’s Not Really Dead: A Vampire Movie Primer
Vampires are so commonplace in entertainment these days that I cannot fathom how anyone could find them mysterious, otherworldly, or especially frightening. In our narcissistic age, people romanticize vampires because the idea of staying young forever trumps any of the existential sadness of such a proposition. Furthermore, the horror aspect of the undead has been entirely co-opted and taken to ex...[Read More]
Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 2
Dreamworks Entertainment has long relied on the Shrek brand as their flagship property, even as each sequel became less charming and more reliant on tiresome pop culture jokes, and eventually resulted in a fourth, final film that was stale, empty, hollow, and really just not all that funny even when it tried. In other words, I don’t know how the company that made Shrek Forever After was capable of...[Read More]