Handsome, Dull ‘DEATH ON THE NILE’ Paddles Towards Predictability

February 10, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Agatha Christie, Annette Bening, Armie Hammer, Death on the Nile, Emma Mackey, Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Letita Wright, Michael Green, Reviews, Russel Brand, Sophie Okonedo, Tom Bateman 1 Comment

Death on the Nile begins with the origin story of Hercule Poirot’s (Kenneth Branagh) ridiculous mustache. His face was half-blown off in WWI you see, this facial deformity informing his older self’s reclusive and fussy nature. The overly coiffed, quadruple-pronged mustache was a cover up all along. A way to throw people off the scent of his great trauma and deep-seated pain. The detective, it seems, is indeed human after all. Surmising why the world-famous detective became who he is proves the best material in this sequel to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, a murder mystery that is otherwise haunted by an almost total lack of mystery. Read More

‘HOTEL MUMBAI’ Makes a Strong Case That Terror Attacks Are Scary

March 27, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Anthony Maras, Anupam Kher, Armie Hammer, Dev Patel, Hotel Mumbai, Jason Isaacs, Nazanin Boniadi, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

Book me a table at the Taj Mahal hotel restaurant, a dining experience where the “customer is god” and the servers are literally willing to put their lives in harm’s way to prove it. So goes the true story of the 2008 terror attacks in India as depicted in Hotel Mumbai, a dramatic thriller assembled with all the visceral horror of being trapped in a Jihad slaughterhouse that proves once and for all that terror attacks are super scary. Read More

SIFF ’18 Capsule Review: ‘SORRY TO BOTHER YOU’

May 22, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Armie Hammer, Lakeith Stanfield, Reviews, SIFF 2018, Sorry to Bother You, Steven Yeun, Tessa Thompson Leave a comment

Sorry to Bother You is on its own level of strangeness. Like stranger than tentacle porn strange. Bold, experimental, and loaded with rich, cryptic and powerful themes of the African American and working-class experience, Boot Riley has crafted a sashimi raw, energetic manifesto exploding with purpose, despite flaws. Seeing Lakeith Stanfield’s lackadaisical mystique dominate a lead role is a joyous experience but the film’s attempts at comedy can sometimes be too broad, even when rooted in razor-sharp satire. Going places you will never in a million years anticipate, STBY is rich with strange soul and sickening twists and turns, smuggling “white voice” and meta-human rights in to challenge audiences in this not-to-be-ignored creationist tale that tackles new racial epitaphs and demented sociopolitical hierarchies. (B) Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘CALL ME BY YOUR NAME’

December 20, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged André Aciman, Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory, Luca Guadagnino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Timothée Chalamet 2 Comments

Call Me By Your Name is that annual run-away critical darling that far too many are quick to call a modern “masterpiece” that has good odds to bore most general audiences to tears. Clocking in at 132 minutes, the film from Italian Luca Guadagnino is long-winded indeed, emphasizing its European cinematic roots by having its characters spend a good chunk of their screen time staring into the distance, ruminating internally, sighing deeply and smoking cigarettes. After all, what’s more European than smoking cigarettes and staring off into the great beyond? Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘NOCTURNAL ANIMALS’

November 22, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Aaron Taylor Johnson, Amy Adams, Armie Hammer, Austin Wright, Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Linney, Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals., Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tom Ford 1 Comment

In 2009, Austin, Texas native and noted fashion designer Tom Ford made his feature film debut with A Single Man. A delirious and stunningly photographed vision quest through loss and grief, A Single Man defined Ford as a filmmaker whose haute couture background greatly influenced his aesthetic and in turn his very process. Earning a Best Actor nomination for Colin Firth, A Single Man also established Ford as an actor’s director and helped in turn attract the likes of two of Hollywood’s finest, Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, for his latest feature, Nocturnal Animals. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE BIRTH OF A NATION’

October 7, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer, Nate Parker, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sundance 2016, Sundance Reviews, The Birth of a Nation Leave a comment

Nate Parker‘s The Birth of a Nation is an urgent primal scream from American history’s darkest hour. Parker produces, writes, directs and stars in this much needed telling of the trials and tribulations of slave-turned-revolutionary Nat Turner. The relatively well-to-do preacher’s eyes are open to a new interpretation of the good book when his master shops out his sermons, profiteering off Turner’s calming demeanor to quell rebellion amongst more brutalized slaves. He’s soon in high demand from the most vicious slave owners across the land, all who want less sass and more backbreaking for their neglected and enslaved laborers. Read More

Sundance ’16 Review: ‘THE BIRTH OF A NATION’

January 27, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer, Nate Parker, Reviews, Sundance 2016, Sundance Reviews, The Birth of a Nation 1 Comment

Out in Theaters: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

August 12, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer, Elizabeth Debicki, Guy Ritchie, Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant, Out in Theaters, Reviews, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Leave a comment

Guy Ritchie is the Rembrandt of slick action capers. His signature twisty-turny plotting suggests a much more reined-in Shyamalan while his carefully syncopated, pop-art action beats share a locker with contemporaries Zack Snyder and Matthew Vaughn. From Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Ritchie has operated within a comparable sandbox, utilizing a very similar set of stock tools within shifting budgetary constraints. With The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Ritchie has set aside his signature accoutrements for something with an embarrassment of cinematic fervor. His latest creation is chic and classic, timely yet timeless, shiny on the surface with rich characters driving the engine underneath. This much fun is rare at the theaters. Read More