This feature film based on (sort of) a Disneyland attraction is science fiction with heavy helpings of steampunk and retro-futurism.
Tag: 2015
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ – Tom Hardy is the post-apocalyptic road warrior on HBO Max
George Miller’s long-awaited sequel was the most visceral, thrilling, and intelligent action film of 2015. Charlize Theron is superb as Imperator Furiosa.
‘Magic Mike XXL’ on HBO Max
Channing Tatum reunites with the old gang (plus a couple of new friends) in the engaging road movie sequel to Steven Spielberg’s energetic comic drama of male strippers.
‘Best of Enemies’ – Buckley vs. Vidal on Amazon Prime
Best of Enemies (2015) carries the subtitle “Buckley vs. Vidal” and it is indeed a portrait of a rivalry, one that was presented on prime time network television at a time when there were three networks and TV news strived to be fair and balanced to a fault. In 1968, William F. Buckley was the […]
‘Hail, Caesar!’ from the Coen Bros. on Netflix
Hail, Caesar! (2015), the Coen Bros.’s sly lampoon of 1950s Hollywood, is an affectionate and satirical tribute to studio filmmaking and a wittily skewed comedy of cultural politics in early 1950s America, the beginning of the end of the studio era. Set at the fictional Capitol Pictures, an MGM-like studio, and centered on Eddie Mannix […]
‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2’ on Peacock
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015) brings an end to the first and most successful big screen adaptation of a young adult dystopian thriller of an oppressive, brutal future. Divergent and The Maze Runner followed with less success, both commercially and dramatically, and for that matter the Hunger Games movies wind down as […]
Last chance: ‘Goodnight Mommy’ on Hulu
Goodnight Mommy (Germany, 2015) is an unsettling horror film built on scars (physical and psychological) that upset the connection between a mother (Susanne Wuest) and her sons, adolescent twins named Lukas and Elias played by real-life twin brothers Lukas Schwarz and Elias Schwarz. That fraternal connection is apparent in every scene, not just affection but […]
Last chance: ‘Jupiter Ascending’ – Space opera silliness on Netflix
Jupiter Ascending (2015) was a player at the Razzie Awards, the snarky organization that puts the spotlight in the worst and most over-hyped films of the year. Not exactly the kind of attention you seek out as a filmmaker, and maybe not completely deserved, though that’s admittedly a minority opinion. This is old fashioned space […]
Oscar-winning ‘Spotlight’
Tom McCarthy’s drama of the Boston Globe’s investigative team that revealed the Catholic Church’s cover-up of its priests who abuse children, is the kind of film that takes on the Big Subject with modesty and self-reflection.
‘American Ultra’ – stoners and spies on Netflix
American Ultra (2015) reworks The Bourne Identity as a slacker comedy with a killer punchline. Jesse Eisenberg is Mike Howell, a sweet, underachieving stoner prone to panic attacks. He gets by as convenience store clerk in a dead-end West Virginia town with a supportive girlfriend, Phoebe (Kristen Stewart), who is almost impossibly understanding when it […]