Set in a permanently wintry seaside, Womb is one strange little sci-fi picture. In it, Rebecca (Eva Green) and Tommy (the current Doctor Who, Matt Smith) were childhood sweethearts who meet cute as adults. When Tommy dies in an accident, Rebecca goes to a biotech lab and recreates him; she actually gives birth to his […]
Film + TV
Posted inArts + Music
Paranoia
As blandly titled as it is directed, Paranoia is a techno-corporate thriller about the cut-throat world of smart phone apps and the men who look like Liam Hemsworth that make them. Hemsworth (brother of Thor, fiancé of Miley) stars mostly shirtless as a poor tech genius trying to climb the corporate ladder. Conflict is theoretically […]
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Kick-Ass 2
Adolescent posturing finds a home in summer superhero spectacle, Kick-Ass 2. Aaron Taylor-Johnson returns as costumed hero Kick-Ass, though much more time is given to the early retirement of Chloë Grace Moretz’ Hit Girl, or Christopher Mintz-Plasse’ evolution into the super villain Motherfucker. That’s smart, as Moretz’ screen presence is miles above her costars, and […]
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The Sweeney
Based on a popular UK cop show from the ’70s, The Sweeney is a slick and satisfying police thriller that doubles as a character study of the guy at the movie’s centre, Ray Winstone’s grizzled veteran cop Jack Regan. Like a team of cockney Dirty Harrys, Regan and his team use, let’s say, unorthodox measures […]
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Headhunters
A cracking Norwegian thriller—adapted from a Jo Nesbø novel—follows the very anglo-named Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), a corporate headhunter with a sideline in art thievery. He’s married to Diana (Synnøve Macody Lund), who he feels unworthy of, and who he suspects of infidelity with art collector Clas (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones). […]
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Elysium
It’s 2154 and life is the worst. It makes Mad Max look like the Hamptons, it’s so bad. No health care, crumbling houses, tires everywhere, jerk-ass robots fucking with you on your way to your factory job building more jerk-ass robots. This is Matt Damon’s life. Earlier in Matt Damon’s life, which has always been […]
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We’re the Millers
This has been a drab, middling summer, little to recommend with even half a heart, and hardly anything has had a sense of humour of any kind. Well what a delight We’re the Millers is, this complete margarita of a movie that finds Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts and Will Poulter pretending to be […]
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Planes
World War II happened, but it was all fought entirely by sentient planes. Planes that are possibly born and have sex with other planes. These are the confusing elements which don’t need to be, but end up occurring in the quickly-written Planes. Not a sequel, but set in “the world of Cars,” this Pixar/Disney cash […]
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I’m So Excited
Though it’s premise hinges on a drug-fuelled orgy aboard a doomed airplane, the bubbly I’m So Excited remains surprisingly tame. Due to an error from an absent-minded ground chief (Antonio Banderas, in cameo), a Spain-to-Mexico flight is left circling Toledo, unable to land. The plane might smash apart upon touchdown, but luckily the all-gay flight […]
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Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters
“I make my own destiny!” shouts the stupidly named Percy Jackson, right before using the weapon his dad gave him to kill the monster he’s prophesied to slay. Such is the unexamined Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, a movie that barely seems to be aware of why it exists. When a transforming cyber-bull […]
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2 Guns
“You’re my people,” Mark Wahlberg tells Denzel Washington over and over in the completely nonsensical surprise hit 2 Guns, AKA Tango & Cash Go to the Desert and Also Bill Paxton is There. So the boys are thieves of sorts avenging the death of an associate, and then they end up with $40 million of […]
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The Way Way Back
The coming-of-age story is one of the best movie genres. The Way Way Back has a terrific cast—Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Steve Carell, Maya Rudolph, Sam Rockwell—and Oscar-winning writer-directors—Nat Faxon and Jim Rash—and a teenaged lead with just the right amount of slouchy, toe-scuff insecurity—Liam James, whatup Jack Linden!—but for whatever reason just never gels. […]
