The scourge of opioid addiction is at the core of the dramatic thriller Crisis. A tension-filled opening sees a teenager, Cedric Beauville (Charles Champagne), in deep snow near the US-Canadian border being chased by unseen pursuers. The lad’s capture sets off a chain of events. Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer) is deep undercover. The Drug Enforcement…
Ghosts of old Hollywood and demons of contemporary life both hang heavy over David Fincher’s Mank. This ostensible biopic of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz does a great job of exploring a troubled character struggling with his problems and his art. But it also delves into what Fincher sees as the root of America’s…
You’ve probably noticed a rift in the film community between those who despise streaming services and those who embrace them. While some big names are in the “despise” camp, acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh is firmly in the “embrace” camp. After collaborating with Netflix for High Flying Bird, the director re-teams with them for The Laundromat….
Rah-rah! American heroes save the world from destruction in Hunter Killer. A hunter-killer is a vessel, especially a submarine, equipped to locate and destroy enemy vessels, including other submarines. Deep beneath the icy surface of the Arctic Circle, the Cold War never really ended. Here, at extreme depths invisible to the rest of the world,…
Darkest Hour is a kind of backgrounder on Winston Churchill’s “never surrender” speech. It also touches on the flotilla dispatched to fetch the British troops from the beach at Dunkirk (as to which, see Dunkirk). But this showy biopic has too much emphasis on levity. Joe Wright (Atonement) directs from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten (The…
A violent buddy action-comedy with a fierce soundtrack, The Hitman’s Bodyguard plays on its irreverence. Nearly everybody notoriously lethal hit man Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) has ever met wants him dead. But that will only happen if Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) – the bodyguard recruited to protect him – doesn’t shoot him first … out of sheer…
