There was never any hope that Victor Frankenstein, the latest in a string of hastily-produced re-imaginings of royalty free properties, would garner much critical acclaim, which meant that in order for it to have any real box office potency, it would need to play a very specific game of kowtowing to fans of this somewhat still existent genre. Look no further than the (relative) success of the Resident Evil movies to get an idea of what that should look like: buttloads of glossy, second-rate CGI, neck-break action that doesn’t usually feel the need to stop to think, limitless kills with limited blood. It’s no so much a formula for success so much as it is a formula for not failing miserably. Read More
Out in Theaters: AMERICAN ULTRA
Everybody knows that smoking weed can make you paranoid. And anybody who’s spent much time in Cannabis Culture probably knows that guy, who spends too much time getting high, drawing weird comics and spouting weird theories. But what if those weird, paranoid theories turned out to be true? This is the premise around which Nima Nourizadeh‘s unlikely new stoner/action/comedy/romance American Ultra is built, and ultimately succeeds. Read More