Out in Theaters: BIG SIGNIFICANT THINGS

July 24, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Big Significant Things, Bryan Reisberg, Harry Lloyd, Out in Theaters, Reviews 1 Comment

Big Significant Things opens on what seems to be a big, significant thing: the “World’s Largest Cedar Bucket.” We first meet our protagonist as he gazes at the bucket with an expression of quiet awe, though already we can see a hint of desperation in the wideness of his eyes and his attempts to engage a local about the bucket’s history. Craig is a twenty-something guy in a serious relationship with Allison, who is in San Francisco picking out the home they plan to buy together; we come to find out that Craig is on his cross-country, “world’s largest”-sightings trip alone, though Allison believes he’s traveling for work. As we come to find out, he’s not just looking for the best American landmarks; he’s on a journey of last-chance freedom and self-discovery before settling down with his “perfect” girl.
Read More

Out in Theaters: PAPER TOWNS

July 23, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Austin Abrams, Cara Delevingne, Halston Sage, Jake Schreier, John Green, Justice Smith, Nat Wolff, Paper Towns 1 Comment

Paper Towns is as infantile as it is pointless; a sloppily rendered, paint-by-numbers filmic blunder that celebrates femininity and the free spirit without understanding either. It’s a glossy venture through teenagedom (emphasis on “dumb”) that both takes itself too seriously and is too fantastical and inconsequential to be taken seriously. As such, it simply fails to grasp anything of value, though its fingers remain greedily extended. Though acted with suitable gusto by its young cast, Paper Towns is the movie equivalent of a rambling troglodyte, spouting words and ideas without having much to say at all. Read More

Out in Theaters: UNEXPECTED

July 23, 2015 by Lillian Angelle Posted in Out in Theaters, Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged Anders Holm, Cobie Smulders, Gail Bean, Kris Swanberg, Kris Williams, Megan Mercier, Unexpected Leave a comment

Kris Swanberg gives a somewhat too conventional glimpse into unplanned pregnancy in Unexpected, co-written with Megan Mercier and Kris Williams. This marks Swanberg’s third feature film, and notably her first film with known actors and a budget that’s actually workable. While Swanberg said she wanted Unexpected to be a more realistic film, stripped of the usual comedy around unplanned pregnancy and the heightened melodrama of the environment of low income schools, the lack of both elements makes for a charming film of realism indeed, but one that’s too dramatically scarce. Read More

Out in Theaters: SOUTHPAW

July 23, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Antoine Fuqua, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Forest Whitaker, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Horner, Kurt Sutter, Oona Laurence, Out in Theaters, Rachel McAdams, Reviews, Southpaw Leave a comment

It’s been since 2001’s Training Day that Antoine Fuqua has delivered a true knockout. Southpaw is no exception. The Pittsburg-born director has faced no challenges scraping together talent; amassing casts and crews that regularly featured A-listers at the top of their game, screenwriters on the fast track to success, composers in highest demand. He also hasn’t been treated to a movie falling on the fresh side of the spectrum since 2001. Sure, The Equalizer eeked by on Denzel Washington’s cool, collected killing spree antics but critics (and audiences) knew that Fuqua’s product was less than perfect. And this gets us to Southpaw, a film that’s definitively less than perfect. Read More

Out in Theaters: PIXELS

July 22, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Sandler, Brian Cox, Chris Columbus, Josh Gad, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Out in Theaters, Peter Dinklage, Pixels, Reviews Leave a comment

Adam Sandler has been candid about his lack of effort in projects of late. Last year on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he admitted that he chooses projects based primarily on location. Meaning, he takes his paycheck and his vacation and all he’s gotta do is tug on the lever that makes the Happy Madison assembly line run. A nerd joke here, a woman joke there. A dash of silly voices. Fat man slamming into something. Voilà! You’ve got yourself a Sandler movie. Read More

Out in Theaters: TRAINWRECK

July 17, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Collin Quinn, Dave Attell, Evan Brinkman, Ezra Miller, John Cena, LeBron James, Noman Lloyd, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tilda Swinton, Trainwreck 2 Comments

*This is a reprint of our 2015 SXSW review

Take it from the effervescently crass mouth of Amy Schumer, “The title was always Trainwreck. Trainwreck or Cum Dumpster.” Oh Amy, you are such just so…you. From talk radio appearances to gross-out Twitter posts, the Schum has crafted her image on being unapologetically, oh-so-adorably crude and in the context of Trainwreck, it’s miraculous to take in. At last night’s premiere, when an audience member inundated her with compliments, she barked, “Stop trying to fuck me.” She has swiftly become the epitome of 21st century feminism-as-middle finger; the crème de la crème of vagina jokes and reverse slut shaming that will melt the lipstick off housewives and zap the calories off your finger sandwiches with her gloriously nasty one-liners and hysterically sexual non-sequiturs. Read More

Out in Theaters: THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT

July 17, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Billy Crudup, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Out in Theaters, Reviews, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Tim Talbott, Tye Sheridan Leave a comment

*This is a reprint of our 2015 Sundance review.

Things came in twos at this year’s Sundance Film Festival with a pair of Cobie Smulders’ features competing against one another for the Dramatic Competition prize, a set of unexpected pregnancy comedy/dramas, Tye Sheridans (who actually was showcased in three films: Last Days in the Desert, Entertainment and this film we’re in the midst of reviewing) and, most notably, a duo of 1960-70s social psychology experiment films. One of which, The Experimenter told the story of Stanley Milgram, administer of increasing electrical shocks and student of peer pressure. The feature starred Peter Sarsgaard and was met with middling reviews. Read More

Out in Theaters: LILA & EVE

July 17, 2015 by Lillian Angelle Posted in Out in Theaters, Reviews Tagged Andre Royo, charles stone III, Chris Chalk, Jennifer Lopez, lila & eve, Review, Reviews, Shea Whigham, Viola Davis 1 Comment

Lila & Eve has the typical makings of a Lifetime Films production: sudden, out of context tragedy, crappy justice systems, female vigilantism, and unlikely friendships forged by way of grief. Starring Viola Davis as Lila, a mother who has lost her son in a seemingly accidental drive-by shooting, Lila & Eve is a film that can’t quite grasp a perspective and stick to it. Directed by Charles Stone III, most notably known for Drumline, his latest summer release falls short of being a thriller, yet has plenty of mind-numbing, shoot-’em-up action. Read More

Out in Theaters: ANT-MAN

July 16, 2015 by Chris Bunker Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam McKay, Ant-Man, Corey Stoll, David Dastmalchian, Edgar Wright, Evangeline Lilly, Joe Cornish, Michael Douglas, Michael Pena, Out in Theaters, Paul Rudd, Peyton Reed, Review, Reviews, T.I. 1 Comment

I’ve always wondered where our preoccupation with size came from. Maybe cause I’ve never been the biggest, or because I’ve always been more taken by the diminutive: as a self-entitled critic, attention to detail is my craft. Fortunately for movie-goers, so it goes for the folks at Marvel and Ant-Man director Peyton Reed. This edition’s got a new musk, and underneath that an exoskeletal husk of comedic explosion and graphic excitement that rivals its full-sized super-compatriots. With Ant-Man, the folks at Marvel forgot how to make a superhero movie as usual, and pumped out one of the best Marvel adaptations yet. Read More

Documentary Dossier: CARTEL LAND

July 16, 2015 by Jill Landon Posted in Documentaries, Out in Theaters Tagged Cartel Lands, Dr. José Manuel Mireles, Matthew Heineman, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tim Foley 2 Comments

Cartel Land spends most of its runtime with the men and women on either side of the US-Mexico border, but it opens amidst the men working for the cartels, gathered under cover of darkness to cook their drugs and appeal to the camera—they are people, and people have to work. After all, if God minded their little cook op, he’d smite them down right quick. And that would be that. Their peculiar bookends – given by tertiary characters with a direct hand in “polluting the populace” – provide an extra shade of depth to a documentary at first intent on chronicling the horrors perpetrated on the Mexican people in the name of the cartels that is then mixed up – like acetone, sulfuric acid and antifreeze – with the morally gray mater of self-righteous vigilantes taking up arms to protect their gente.