Moana movie review: the hero with a thousand faces finally has a female one
A wonderful mythology of demons and demigods. A heroine who embodies the bold spirit of her people. Another sweet, funny, exciting triumph from Disney.
Matrix
Doctor Strange movie review: even Marvel is now tired of origin stories
Busy with CGI to hide the emptiness where the emotional core should be. Even the mechanics of getting a man from mere mortal to demigod-in-a-cape are rote.
Where Are the Women? rating criteria explained (updated!)
Supplementary explanations for my Where Are the Women? rating criteria. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Pan movie review: a disaster of fantastically epic proportions
An embarrassingly empty pastiche of numerous beloved action blockbusters, all frenetic action and soulless mishmashes of fantasy imagery.
Hitman: Agent 47 movie review: kill it
Even dumb SF action needs a certain grounding in plausible reality. But nothing here makes a damn bit of sense.
Mad Max: Fury Road movie review: warlords is hell
Astonishing. Achieves its grotesque, magnificent brutality in an old-fashioned way that serves as a smackdown to bloated, sterile CGI monstrosities.
John Wick movie review: deadly dancing
Funky-elegant, weirdly funny, visually intoxicating. I love this movie so much for how it’s different about being more of the same old stuff we always love.
The Maze Runner movie review: a terrible feeling of deja vu
Bland and generic beyond the small pleasures of its theme-park-ride-esque thrills and its half-intriguing, half-infuriating mystery.
Lucy movie review: head case
In this pile of adolescent heavy-metal-deep pseudo-sci-fi philosophy, the meaning of humanity depends on how “cool” something looks onscreen.
X-Men: Days of Future Past movie review: time for hope
With its time-twisting plot, sci-fi soapiness, powerful humanism, and to-die-for cast, this is the summer blockbuster done with elegance and heart.
