30-for-30: Survive and Advance

March 31, 2016April 24, 2017 / Tom / 11 Comments

Release: Sunday, March 17, 2013 [Netflix] Directed by: Jonathan Hock Thrown off balance by Houston's sudden switch to the zone defense, the North Carolina State Wolfpack, "the cardiac kids," scrapped to find a last-second shot that would once again elevate them over their opponent and into the upper echelon of improbable victories. But there were seven seconds left on … Continue reading 30-for-30: Survive and Advance

Love

March 29, 2016April 24, 2017 / Tom / 23 Comments

Release: Friday, October 30, 2015 (limited) [Netflix] Written by: Gaspar Noé Directed by: Gaspar Noé French-Argentinian Gaspar Noé has chosen to follow up his "psychedelic melodrama" Enter the Void with a graphic examination of relationships driven by lust and jealousy, and while it is a warmer film than his previous efforts, Love is a far cry from feel-good and offers its … Continue reading Love

Adult Beginners

March 27, 2016April 24, 2017 / Tom / 7 Comments

Release: Friday, April 24, 2015 [Netflix] Written by: Jeff Cox; Liz Flahive; Nick Kroll Directed by: Ross Katz Fans of FX's The League, here's a movie you've kind of been waiting for. Kind of. And maybe 'waiting for' is extreme. Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm towards star Nick Kroll, Adult Beginners finds a way to encourage a more … Continue reading Adult Beginners

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

March 25, 2016April 22, 2017 / Tom / 27 Comments

Release: Friday, March 25, 2016 [Theater] Written by: Chris Terrio; David S. Goyer Directed by: Zack Snyder I see civil war erupting between the die-hards and the casual-hards (and let me quickly interrupt myself here: casual-hards are people like me who don't really have a firm grasp on either the mythos or even all of the character trajectories … Continue reading Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

The Brothers Grimsby

March 22, 2016April 22, 2017 / Tom / 25 Comments

Release: Friday, March 11, 2016 [Theater] Written by: Sacha Baron Cohen; Phil Johnston; Peter Baynham Directed by: Louis Leterrier There's something about Sacha Baron Cohen that really makes you feel like a complete idiot. He's become really good at that because here I went, blinded by my own boredom, to a screening where I was the only viewer … Continue reading The Brothers Grimsby

Man Up

March 21, 2016April 22, 2017 / Tom / 34 Comments

Release: Friday, November 13, 2015 (limited) [Netflix] Written by: Tess Morris Directed by: Ben Palmer Man Up plays out like the self-help book on dating that you never knew you needed. Or wanted. It's a romantic comedy where the romance is neither obnoxious nor saccharine and where not everyone is all LOL-ing up in your face because they're … Continue reading Man Up

Hell and Back

March 17, 2016April 22, 2017 / Tom / 10 Comments

Release: Friday, October 2, 2015 [Netflix] Written by: Tom Gianas; Hugh Sterbakov; Zeb Wells Directed by: Tom Gianas; Ross Shuman Hell and Back is the result of a very goofy experiment. It manifests as Tom Gianas and Ross Shuman's crude mash-up of Beavis and Butthead's juvenile sense of humor with Team America's suggestive (offensive?) usage of stop-motion animation. The … Continue reading Hell and Back

Guest Editorial: 5 Questions About the New Spider-Man Reboot

March 15, 2016April 22, 2017 / Tom / 5 Comments

Guest Editorial by: James Murray If you're a fan of superhero cinema, or really movies in general, you've heard the news: 2017 will bring us yet another version of Spider-Man on the big screen, after the series directed by Sam Raimi and Marc Webb ran out of steam. It's a little bit tiresome that we'll … Continue reading Guest Editorial: 5 Questions About the New Spider-Man Reboot

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

March 12, 2016April 20, 2017 / Tom / 11 Comments

Release: Wednesday, March 4, 2016 [Theater] Written by: Robert Carlock Directed by: Glenn Ficarra; John Requa The civilian translation of this film's odd title applies to this strange concoction in more ways than I'm sure the filmmakers intended. I left the picture feeling more confused about American relations with the Middle East than I did entering it. Perhaps that's the … Continue reading Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

10 Cloverfield Lane

March 11, 2016April 20, 2017 / Tom / 31 Comments

Release: Friday, March 11, 2016 [Theater] Written by: Josh Campbell; Matthew Stuecken; Damien Chazelle Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg Dan Trachtenberg's suffocating and impossibly intense monster movie arrests viewers with a power few thrillers in recent memory have had. 10 Cloverfield Lane is an early contender for biggest surprise hit of 2016, delivering a story that's conceptually simple, emotionally complex and psychologically … Continue reading 10 Cloverfield Lane

Thomas J

My Journey Through Film

Month: March 2016