Screen
On agents and agency
Melissa McCarthy is immensely talented, armed with a stunning repertoire of acting skills. So, of course, Hollywood sees her and claps its collective hands together, yelling “Make the funny lady fall down again!” Spy is writer/director (and frequent McCarthy ...
Let’s not be gods
Midway through Ex Machina, writer/director Alex Garland’s taut thinker, super genius inventor Nathan (Oscar Isaac) tells human guinea pig Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) that the invention of artificial intelligence was always a matter of when, not if. Here’s a thought: ...
No Wright, still alright
In the belly of a hollowed-out volcano, maniacally laughing and rubbing their hands together in a way only villains are wont to do, WB/DC executives had to be overjoyed when writer/director Edgar Wright left Ant-Man just as production was starting. Finally! A Marvel...
‘Love Actually’
Monday, December 30: Movie Night — Love Actually. 7:30 p.m. Bohemian Biergarten, 2017 13th St., Boulder, 720- 328-8328...
Lower-case Spielberg
In general, I’m not a big fan of holding artists accountable to the standard set by their best work. Making something “good” after making something “great,” doesn’t mean that the good thing is any less objectively good or that the great thing is any more great. What ...
Sodium eyewater
You know those feel-good documentaries that make your heart swell as you discover some unknown artist, overlooked genius or divine but unrecognized human accomplishment? The Salt of the Earth is not one of those. For about 95 of its 110 minutes, directors Wim Wenders...
No one promised ‘great’
Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur is a retelling of every story involving a beloved pet ever told, with the twist being the human is the pet. In an alternate reality where dinosaurs and man walked the earth together (that’s called creationism), Aldo (Raymond Ochoa), a runt ...
Trial and terror
You only hear about a psychological experiment if it goes really, really well or really, really bad. Guess how a simulation of prison using 20-something college students as both guards and inmates went? Writer Tim Talbott’s script strays little from a grand ...
