Monstrously Dumb ‘GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE’ As Empty As Hollow Earth

March 28, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Wingard, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Jeremy Slater, Kaylee Hottle, Rebecca Hall, Reviews, Simon Barrett, Terry Rossio 3 Comments

More a proper Kong movie with some Godzilla spice sprinkled on top than the titan buddy movie that the marketing materials insists this film is, Adam Wingard’s cartoonish Godzilla x Kong: New Empire is loud, brash, and dumb, with its wee share of monster fun. Will it be enough to satisfy audiences hungry for more large-scale monster mashing? Probably – but for a franchise that consistently undervalues things like character, stakes, and scale, and still manages decent box office returns and mild reviews, that’s not particularly hard to achieve. This fifth edition in Warner Brother’s MonsterVerse picks up after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong where, as the title implies, the two titans threw down in a tedious battle that overshadowed any semblance of human subplot. Read More

Exhaustingly Excessive Actioner ‘BULLET TRAIN’ is Pure Joyless Destruction

August 2, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Aaron Taylor Johnson, Andrew Koji, Bad Bunny, Brad Pitt, Brian Tyree Henry, Bullet Train., Hiroyuki Sanada, Joey King, Logan German, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetzm 2 Comments

Snakes On a Train

The scourge that is the 2022 summer movie season continues with the loud, ultra-violent, and ultimately entirely mindless Bullet Train. Best known for the John Wick franchise, Deadpool 2, and the Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs and Shaw, writer-director David Leitch is a creator of quickly diminishing returns. Here, he delivers an algorithmic Guy Ritchie wanna-be crime whodunnit packed with movie stars and the popular “gun-fu” combat style the former stunt man helped pioneer but short on actual plot locomotion and charm. All set on a train! It’s not an entirely feckless ride, the game performances are just enough to power the film forward and keep the groans to a minimum, but it’s as disposable as it is bloated with wanton destruction. For a movie this unconcerned with logical collateral fallout, one that childishly gawks at violence, it sure does have a strange amount of references to Thomas the Tank Engine. Read More

‘WIDOWS’ Subverts Heist Movie Expectations with Searing Performances, Artful Direction

November 13, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brian Tyree Henry, Colin Farrell, Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Kaluuya, Elizabeth Debicki, Gillian Flynn, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Steve McQueen, Widows 1 Comment

There’s a cold chill that hangs in the air of Widows, the collaboration between brooding auteur Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and celebrated novelist and Hollywood hot ticket item Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”, “Sharp Objects”). Theirs is a chilly heist movie, one that draws equally from modern American racism (whose roots run deep here) and political paranoia; a feature that’s marked by events of extreme brutality and cold calculation. A far cry from the slick heist movies born of Steven Soderbergh, Edgar Wright, or Spike Lee, Widows is still complete with its share of double-crosses, smart aleck maneuverings, and bone-chattering suspense. It’s not a total top-to-bottom revision of the traditional heist flick but their offering is an artful and potent reworking of the established formula. Read More