MOVIE REVIEW: Hail, Caesar!

For this writer and website, the films of Joel and Ethan Coen are pegged as acquired tastes. Slot the brothers and their work right next to Quentin Tarantino in that regard. Their creative brilliance and their reverent place in the upper echelon of superb storytellers are indisputable, proven by their six Oscar wins. Sometimes, in the measure of taste, their choices and results are a maddening or confounding mess. When the Coen brothers are on their game, they are white hot. "Hail, Caesar!" won't go down as one of their best, but there is no denying its draw as a thoroughly entertaining hoot.

MOVIE REVIEW: Sicario

"Sicario" is a raw labyrinth of grit and surprises. This film is a python of suspense. Just when you think the film can't squeeze you any tighter, it chokes you even more. It resets the bar as the best and finest film on drug warfare that Hollywood has ever attempted. "Sicario" is steely, seedy, scary, and jarring in its underlying social and political commentary to bore that out. It's the kind of film that will make you never want to visit Mexico or live in Arizona or Texas.

MOVIE REVIEW: Everest

Marketed like a thrilling disaster film yet playing like a respectful drama, "Everest" is still carries the sheen of every other Hollywood mountain climbing movie while offering enough of a eulogistic history lesson to be respectful of its true story. Based on the real 1996 events documented in Jon Krakauer's massively best-selling novel "Into Thin Air," astute viewers who know how it will all end will still be engaged and entertained through the cliches. Director Baltasar Kormakur veils the seams of Hollywood dramatization enough to not sour the experience.

MOVIE REVIEW: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Raising the stakes and swinging for the fences like a good film sequel should, Joss Whedon’s latest Marvel film pays off the studio’s Phase 2 initiative with both a new level of groundbreaking effort beyond the first peak three years ago and a continued dedication to the master blueprint of a grander big picture.

MOVIE REVIEW: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

After taking in "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," the second collaboration between legendary graphic novel creator Frank Miller and virtuoso technical filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, I feel like coining a new term. "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" is a "genre-buster," meaning that it is a film that pushes far beyond the boundaries of its generally assigned category. In my opinion, to be a genre-buster, you have to break the confinements of at least three genres. Two isn't enough. Two is an "action comedy," "romantic fantasy," or etc. and those are plain as day and too easy. You've got to mix three and do it well.

MOVIE REVIEW: Guardians of the Galaxy

"Guardians of the Galaxy," on paper, was supposed to be that movie that tested the studio's resilience and ability, yet it's aiming to be the big August hitter for the summer of 2014. Ladies and gentlemen, it will win that title and then some. As out-there as it is, this is the most flat-out fun a Marvel movie has ever been. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" might be the better overall film and "The Avengers" will always be the first cornerstone off this combined universe's monumental success, but "Guardians of the Galaxy" might be the movie you keep watching year after year as a new favorite. The catchy and entertaining trailers nearly don't do it justice.

EDITORIAL: The 15 films to watch for the 2015 Oscars

Once one awards season ends, another one begins! The winners from last night's 86th Academy Awards can bask in the glow of immortality for a while. Meanwhile, business in Hollywood will quickly shift and move on to the 87th Academy Awards that will happen in February or March of 2015. Here are 15 films to watch for the 2015 Oscars.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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