A noncombatant Army officer is compelled to take part in a final offensive against invading aliens, only to relive the battle countless times, in Edge of Tomorrow. Earth’s been invaded by an alien race that’s suddenly stalled after nearly eradicating much of Europe. The commander leading the unified fighting forces, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson), decides on an […]
Time travel movies and others that play with temporal realities are successful or not based on the strength of the plot. You could have the best cast in the world, and it will all end up lost to time if the story doesn’t make sense or, even worse, is too complicated. Some of the best […]
Godzilla movies were regular entries in the monster movie marathons that they’d put on the air late at night or on lazy Saturdays spent in front of the TV. I loved these movies because Godzilla would inevitably destroy everything in sight and often fight other creatures in those plots where he was actually saving humanity […]
An alien from unknown origins uses an attractive human form to lure prey to their death in Under the Skin. There seems little doubt, at least in Hollywood, that if aliens ever did inhabit our planet, their ulterior motives would be anything but pleasant for the human race. Scarlett Johansson stars as an unnamed alien […]
It’s no secret that I’m underwhelmed by origin stories when it comes to superhero movies. I understand why they exist, and I tolerate them with every reboot of the Spider-Man and Batman franchises. I prefer the films where they assume that you already know something about the characters and just plop them in the middle […]
A lonely introvert finds comfort in the “arms” of his new, highly-advanced cell phone operating system in Her. Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is demoralized by the breakup of his marriage to his first love, Catherine (Rooney Mara). It doesn’t help matters that his job as a creative letter writer requires him to be fully in […]
A young boy is chosen to be a top military strategist in a battle to save the future of Earth from the onslaught of an alien race in Ender’s Game. Orson Scott Card‘s beloved sci-fi best seller is brought to the big screen for the first time. It’s the story of young Ender Wiggin (Asa […]
When I first heard about Gravity, I joked about it and thought that it could never work. An entire movie of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney floating around in space?! No way! Would it be a disaster or a triumph? As I always do, I withhold judgment until I actually see a movie — no matter how […]
A space shuttle crew effecting repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope is bombarded by space debris, leaving them helpless in the vacuum of space in Gravity. It’s the most hostile environment known to mankind. Without extensive protection, humans wouldn’t be able to survive in it for even a few seconds. That harsh environment we call space […]
Vin Diesel first entered the consciousness of moviegoers with Pitch Black (2000) and The Fast and the Furious a year later even though he had small roles in Saving Private Ryan and Boiler Room. Diesel knows how to give back to his fans and doesn’t snub his nose at the movies that propelled him to […]
A group of childhood friends reunites to complete an unfinished epic bar crawl from their youths only to find their path blocked by alien robots in The World’s End. Gary King (Simon Pegg) hasn’t ever been able to come to grips with getting older. Once the charismatic leader of his group of friends, it’s now […]
Pub crawls are a rite of passage for many young adults as they turn the legal drinking age or otherwise want to mark a special occasion. I went on two such crawls in my senior year of college at Villanova University right before graduation. We did an impromptu private crawl in which there were no […]