Pompeii rating: yellow light
Instantly forgettable but more than passable as a diversion; solid B-movie cheese that’s like Titanic-lite meets Gladiator-lite.
drama
The Legend of Hercules rating: red light
Kellan Lutz is the demigod’s density in Renny Harlin’s MST3K-ready retelling of the classical legend. Think Jesus with muscles, by the power of Greyskull.
The Sea review: the sands of time are dun-colored
Ciarán Hinds engages in some pointlessly dour Irish brooding at the beach.
Tracks review: hopefully lost
Romantic in the grandest sense, a visceral and hypnotic experience of idealistic aspirations set against the desolate beauty and danger of the Outback.
Joe review: the violence inherent in the system
Cage finally gets away from his shouty, cartoony madmen, but it’s hard to shake the sense that this was laboriously constructed around him as a showcase.
Transcendence review: AI yai yai
The neo-luddite attitude is bad, but this commits a far worse sin: it’s dull. If only it worked as a schlocky pile of pulp nonsense, that’d be something…
Locke review: riding in a car with a boy
We say things like, “Oh, I’d watch that guy read the phone book,” and this is almost that. Except it really is absolutely riveting, and that’s no joke.
The Railway Man review: a derailment on the line
Almost entirely ignores the amazing aspect of this true story that makes it worth telling, and even the very good performances point us in another direction than the intended one.
Night Moves movie review (Birds Eye View Film Festival)
Kelly Reichardt cements her reputation as one of the most provocative American indie filmmakers with this quiet, tense thriller of morality and motive.
Swim Little Fish Swim review (Birds Eye View Film Festival)
It’s almost a little too precious to be taken as an honest exploration artistically genuine lives. Or else that’s where it finds a lost romance.
