In Antlers, the big bad is never supposed to be as scary as society’s collective wrongdoing.
The film succeeds admirably both as a crackerjack crime thriller and as a moral exposé of human evil.
Aaron Sorkin deep dives into self-parody from the opening moments of his directorial debut, Molly’s Game.
The film succumbs to its main character’s didacticism: His perceived humility masks a smug, Manichean worldview.
Defiance is akin to watching the Cantina scenes from Star Wars indolently re-scripted and reenacted by amateurs.
You could call it a tragicomedy of mistaken identities.
The film examines a modern post-war environment where people’s lives are treated as nothing more than a means to financial success.
An already near-essential DVD release of an essential noir, updated for the high-def age.
The needlessly convoluted and contrived premise is enough to give one a headache.
The pretty-ugly-pretty-ugly-pretty-ugly holographic slipcase cover is a laugh riot-it doesn’t evoke gender dysphoria, only a questionable marketing campaign.
Throughout, a convincingly distraught Felicity Huffman largely refuses to succumb to the film’s facileness.
In the spirit of the great Sioux tradition, I dub Kevin Costner “Directorial One-Hit Wonder.”
If the film’s visual splendor lacks profundity, Costner does provide a handful of transcendent moments.
Snow Dogs gets the hearty DVD treatment even though someone should have thrown this film to the dogs.
The film is full of good ol’ family values so bland and uncinematic that it could be resold as a very special episode of 7th Heaven.