Screen
Quake and stakes
Let’s get this clear up front: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s character, Ray, in San Andreas is stealthily one of the most morally bankrupt, narcissistic assholes to ever be called a “hero.” He’s introduced as having saved more than 600 lives during his many years with ...
Running with it
A rich and surprisingly old-fashioned musical biopic, The Runaways has neither the bloat nor the blather of your average Hollywood treatment of stars on the rise. It’s pungent and quick on its feet, capturing the clubs, the shag-heavy interiors and the Farrahhaired...
Despite cast, ‘Nine’ is a bore
How can a movie starring six Academy Award-winning actors be such a bore...
A history of violence
Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion ... I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do...
‘Once upon a time in Uganda’
Isaac Nabwana was a bricklayer with movies on his mind. But Uganda didn’t have the resources for Isaac’s dreams. By Isaac’s admission, his neighborhood,...
Unlikely combinations
Mildly funny adventures in extreme baby-sitting, director David Gordon Green’s The Sitter finds its emblematic moment in the scene of Sam Rockwell, playing a Brooklyn drug dealer, joking around and then suddenly blasting one of his minions in the foot in a ...
SeaWorld can suck it
Breaking news: You know those giant, majestic, ocean-dwelling creatures with the first name “killer?” Turns out if you lock them in tiny spaces, it kills them, and if you get in with them, they kill you. Nothing says “family fun” like aquatic murder and animal ...
Always on my mind
Some people are never more alone than they are in the company of others. Adam is such a person.
Adam (Andrew Scott) is a screenwriter...
‘Arthur’ a tipsy remake
From one perspective, the well-lubricated yet stiff-jointed 1981 comedy Arthur, the one about the millionaire Manhattan drunkard played by Dudley Moore, was ripe for a remake. It scored a huge popular success early in the Reagan era, when unexamined wealth was king. ...
Please sir, may I have my job?
Sit down, Sartre. Writers/directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne get it a bit more right: Hell isn’t just other people. Hell is asking other people to surrender their bonuses so you can keep your job. Two Days, One Night is a harrowing social allegory, a dramatic ...
