Francis (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Lola Versus) and the very pregnant Beth (the genetically blessed Vinessa Shaw, Side Effects) rent a boat to explore the nearby island of Punta Hueca (can’t-be-accidental translation: Hollow Point). Under a sweltering sun, they find a few kids at the dock and seemingly no else along the village’s roads or in its […]
watch
Posted inArts & Culture
Jack the Giant Slayer
The film’s fatal mistake? Perhaps it was director Bryan Singer embracing the 19th-century nature of the story as tightly as he did Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie for his own Superman Returns. These days, to satisfy family audiences, it’s evidently not enough to revive an old-fashioned tale; you have to hip it up with nods […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Anatomy / Anatomy 2
As Paula quickly discovers through her studies, there exists a crazy, frat-like organization on campus whose members like to perform autopsies. What’s so crazy about that? The surgeons of this secret society like to perform said autopsies on live humans. Naturally, that results in danger for her and creepy imagery for us. Slick, sick and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
6 Souls
See, he’s not your everyday schizophrenic, but a supernatural one, playing host to a half-dozen souls (hence the title) sharing one common thread: They were murdered. It’s an intriguing idea, and for a while, co-directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein (Underworld: Awakening) do it justice. Alas, it cannot last. Once the story moves into the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Tower Block
The title refers to an apartment complex built post-WWII, a title card informs us. Once attractive and affordable, the place deteriorated over the decades into England’s equivalent of Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green, to the point of demolition. As the thriller opens, only the top floor of Serenity House, aka Tower Block 31, awaits removal and rehousing. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Terror on a Train
As the title has it, the film is more concerned with the work half of that equation. A terrorist has planted a package of explosives on a train — or, as one character puts it, “Some joker’s been monkeyin’ around with your load!” — and Lyncort is called into action to diffuse the situation. Meanwhile, an […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Monk
Oh, well. Seeing the new film adaptation makes me feel as if I have. Obviously, I can’t speak to how closely it may or may not adhere to the book, but director Dominik Moll’s The Monk definitely is rich in its Gothic trappings. To me, that alone is a huge plus. In 16th-century Madrid, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Last Exorcism Part II
She even gets a job cleaning hotel rooms and attracts the eye of a boy who works there (Spencer Treat Clark, 2009’s The Last House on the Left remake). But she can’t escape everything — namely, the demon still inside her. Still produced in part by Eli Roth (Hostel) but directed by new blood Ed […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The East
If you’ve seen one, you haven’t seen them all. But you should, and The East opens Friday exclusively at AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial. The title refers to an underground group of ecological terrorists led by the scruffy Benji (Alexander Skarsgård, TV’s True Blood). He and his followers — most notably Izzy […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Much Ado About Nothing
The West Coast is audible in the characters’ accents, making the Bard’s vernacular sound 21st-century. Well-tailored suits and smartphones replace hosiery and swords, and the noble men returning from war are now WASPs, ostensibly government dignitaries. Following two couples’ parallel romantic ordeals, Whedon draws out the rom-com elements inherent in the original play, not straying […]