Rush review: man + machine vs man + machine
A thoroughly magnificent film on every level, with astonishing performances by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl; one of the very best films of 2013.
action
White House Down review: I’d rather be in Philadelphia
It lifts an embarrassing number of beats from Die Hard… but Channing Tatum is no Bruce Willis.
Riddick review: men will be boys
Dispenses with all pretense that the modern action blockbuster is anything other than the confused, terrified power fantasy of a particularly sheltered and emotionally stunted teenaged boy.
Bounty Killer review
The genre equivalent of soft-core porn: it doesn’t care how strained and derivative it is as long as it is delivering flying bullets, fast cars, and closeups on women’s sashaying asses.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones review
Way to give overwrought fan fiction a bad name. No amount of fairy dust can make this bewitching.
2 Guns review: buddy cops, slight of hand
Oddly took some advice not intended for movies: “Be specific but not memorable. Be funny but don’t make ’em laugh.”
Hammer of the Gods review
This is what happens when your Lord of the Rings cosplay gets overrun by Method stuntmen.
Rebellion (L’ordre et la morale) review
Sporadically exciting French action drama about a 1988 hostage crisis drags more often than it should.
Olympus Has Fallen mini review
A vile propagandistic action flick that shamelessly indulges fears of terrorism while also failing on a basic narrative level.
Elysium review: third world rock from the sun
Neill Blomkamp cements his science-fiction credentials as a filmmaker with a genre vision the likes of which we haven’t seen since the socially conscious SF of the 1970s.
