Racing Extinction documentary review: the asteroid this time is humanity
A horror flick about the blundering of humanity on a scale so enormous that global warming is only a small part of it. But its monster is not unconquerable.
disaster
The 33 movie review: swallowed up by the earth
A missed opportunity to tell what should be a captivating real-life disaster tale that is instead plodding, scattershot, and lacking in dramatic impetus.
The 5th Wave movie review: disaster movie, in more ways than one
Lazy and trite, with a passive protagonist. It’s as if no one here understands the appeal of the postapocalyptic YA genre it is attempting to piggyback on.
In the Heart of the Sea movie review: here be monsters (and whales)
Solid, old-school man-versus-nature adventure melodrama, with a simmering green awareness; rollicking, smart, breathtaking, and sobering.
Sherpa documentary review: go tell it on the mountain (LFF 2015)
Captures a burgeoning revolutionary spirit among a people who have been ignored, when they aren’t being taken advantage of, for too long.
High-Rise movie review: afterscape in the sky (LFF 2015)
Ben Wheatley takes on J.G. Ballard, and it’s a frustrating experience: visually striking but far too literal while aiming for the allegorical.
The Wave (Bølgen) movie review: disaster, Scandinavian style (LFF 2015)
The traditional Hollywood disaster flick goes to Norway, and is grim and gripping around all the time-honored ridiculous clichés crammed into it.
Goosebumps movie review: stick with the books (LFF 2015)
More theme-park attraction than movie, and paradoxically distastefully self-congratulatory about the Goosebumps phenomenon and insulting toward its author.
The Martian movie review: life on Mars
An excellent complement to the novel, simplifying the science without dumbing it down yet retaining the suspense and urgency of its interplanetary stranding.
Containment (aka Infected) movie review: no place like home
There’s nothing groundbreaking in this low-budget sci-fi thriller, but newbie director Mcenery-West makes excellent use of his claustrophobic setting.
