At the beginning of Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Franz Yagerstatter (played by August Diehl) is returning home to his family. Living in Austria during the early days of Nazi recruitment and the war to come, Yagerstatter has been training as a soldier but finding his conscience at a crossroads and wanting nothing to do…
In writer/director Simon Kinberg’s “Dark Phoenix,” we learn how mutant Jean Grey (played by Sophie Turner from “Game of Thrones”) obtains extraordinary powers that corrupt her psyche and destroy the relationships around her. As a member of the X-men and a reliable presence at the school for mutants established by Dr. Charles Xavier (played by…
“Echo in the Canyon” is director Andrew Slater’s documentary on the game-changing music movement in the mid-late 1960’s that took place in Laurel Canyon, California. The history of that remarkable time is presented from a bevy of music legends, including David Crosby, Ringo Starr, producer Lou Adler, Michelle Phillips, Jackson Browne and Eric Clapton (to…
According to David Hughes’ “The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made,” James Cameron spent ten years after “Titanic” pondering what to make next before ultimately deciding on “Avatar.” During that period of indecision, Cameron came this-close to directing “Terminator 3,” “Spider-Man” and “True Lies 2.” “Alita: Battle Angel,” had also been floating around the rumor mill…
As the lights dimmed and Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” began, it hit me that I was seeing a movie that I never imagined would be made in my lifetime. I thought, I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this. Gilliam clearly realizes that most in the audience are hearing my reaction, as…
It’s been five years since we last met up with Hiccup, the clumsy but remarkably brave young warrior who best friend is Toothless, a sweet and ferocious dragon. The two live in Berk, a vast land shared by Vikings and hordes of dragons, who now live in harmony. A ruthless dragon hunter named Grimmel threatens…
Two years ago, the busy, lucrative Blumhouse Productions horror company unleashed “Happy Death Day” on teen audiences and scored a solid hit. Depicting a self-absorbed college student named Tree (played by Jessica Rothe), who is murdered by a mad slasher and re-lives the fateful day again and again, it had the nerve to rip-off…
When we meet Baker Dill (played by Matthew McConaughey), he’s drenched in sweat, living alone in a dumpy apartment and lives to fish. Baker is particularly obsessed with catching a massive tuna he’s nicknamed “Justice,” a crazed fixation that has resulted in daily failed attempts to capture the fish with his patient first mate (played…
In the near future, scientist Will Foster (played by Keanu Reeves) moves the fading consciousness of a recently deceased man into a robot. When the robot “reawakens” as a skeletal machine with a metallic body, it immediately freaks out and rips its head apart. Clearly, Foster has never seen “RoboCop” and lacks the bedside manner…
M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable” (2000) was a comic book movie ahead of its time. Arriving a year after the monster success of his spooky and deeply moving “The Sixth Sense,” Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable” was shrouded in secrecy. No one knew what the film was even about until the day it opened. The initial response was muted,…