daily stream: stunningly accomplished space survival adventure
2013’s Gravity is on Max in the US, Prime in the UK.
3D
Avatar: The Way of Water movie review: blueface on a blue planet
The filmmaking craft may be (mostly) astonishing. But the craft must always — always — be in aid of a compelling story populated by compelling characters… and that’s not so much the case here.
Frozen II movie review: the thaw sets in
There’s magic here, and elemental spirits, but no magic and nothing elemental, metaphorically speaking. Rote and smaller than its predecessor. Even the songs are bland and forgettable.
Mortal Engines movie review: it’s got no rev
Like the book it’s based on, the worldbuilding is intriguing, but the characters and story are strictly cliché. A lazy, confused, and derivative disaster, with plot points and visual and thematic motifs shamelessly stolen from far better movies.
They Shall Not Grow Old documentary review: more museum exhibit than movie (LFF 2018)
There’s a poignant eeriness to this modernization of WWI footage: we are looking into a past that feels touchably close and immediate like never before. But this is a novelty. A solemn one, but a novelty nonetheless.
Attraction (Prityazhenie) movie review: when ET is dreamy
It has a spectacular opening sequence, and features a few minor tweaks to alien-invasion tropes. But the teen romance at its center reduces this to a very inconsequential first contact.
at the 20th anniversary of ‘Titanic,’ where are all the knockoffs?
We should be absolutely sick to death of all the cash-ins, pseudo-remakes and imitators. Where are they?
Thor: Ragnarok movie review: it’s only the end of the world
Breezy, jokey, crammed with clever sci-fi ideas; the funniest MCU flick yet. Director Taika Waititi brings a new geeky verve we didn’t realize the series needed.
Blade Runner 2049 movie review: a rickety retro replicant
Visually, this dying future world is immersively hellish. Intellectually, though, its ideas haven’t kept up with the rapidly evolving science-fictional conversation.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D movie review: he said he’d be back…
An action masterpiece newly remastered in gorgeous 4K (and rejiggered for superfluous 3D) reveals how fresh it remains not only technically but thematically.
