There are not enough loud writing colors on the ShowMe app to give the splashy neon of Atomic Blonde the rub it deserves, but, hopefully, my words do the trick. Come and bow at the altar of Charlize Theron, as I did for this review. The film may not be anything special in the spy department, but the Monster Oscar winner deserves the fist-pumps for the toughness and guile she put on display.
Read MoreThe three-part noun definition of “wonder” can be summarized as “a cause of astonishment, the quality of excited admiration, or rapt attention at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience.” Used as an adjective in a proper name, the word could not be more fitting of Princess Diana of Themyscira, better known as Wonder Woman. Whether it represents a cog in a larger universe, a historical watershed for women’s leadership, or the answered prayers of long-suffering fans and idolizing dreamers, Wonder Woman is a valiant, momentous, and satisfying first step fitting of the iconic heroine.
Read MoreLaika Entertainment, the Portland-based and Phil Knight-backed stop-motion animation studio that brought you “Coraline,” “ParaNorman, and “The Boxtrolls” have outdone themselves with their newest effort. “Kubo and the Two Strings” leaps off the screen with an original foreign folk tale that employs a rich originality and builds a strong base of emotional connection that rivals its Disney/Pixar contemporaries. Everything about its surface is finely crafted and creatively awe-inspiring. Who and what lies behind this film’s skin are its most egregious flaws that keep it from being a justifiable, full-fledged classic.
Read MoreThe 88th Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, January 14, 2016, hot off of the weekend's 73rd Golden Globe awards. I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page. Using that data as the tea leaves and a truckload of hunches, I'm going to attempt to closely predict the Oscar nominations for the "Big 8" categories for the third year in a row.
Read MoreMore and more each year, the Golden Globes have become more an a popularity contest than a true precursor to the Academy Awards. What you're watching on TV is a party thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and hosted by Ricky Gervais in an effort to be loved and share some love. To its credit, the awards show still garners legitimate attention and ratings. The winners do get a pretty positive rub and the marketers gain a few more "Winner of..." graphics to put in the newspapers next to their films.
Read MoreAs I say every year, plenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too. Over the life of this website, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year. I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change. I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll. This will be as forward as I get all year.
Read MoreFor this writer, "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a daunting challenge for this website's definition of mindless action as a movie genre. Mindless action has its range from the trash of Michael Bay to the treasure of the "Fast and Furious" franchise. However, what separates the trash from the treasure is quality and impact. The quality speaks to the action and the impact speaks to the story being sewn along the way, even if it's secondary. The really good mindless action movies offer just enough heft of a compelling story to make the action matter and resonate beyond just superficial coolness. As incredible in stunt work and thrills as "Mad Max: Fury Road" is, it is missing too much of that heft to matter beyond being really cool to watch.
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