Director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio revisit the anything-goes late ’80s and early ’90s with such debauchery that it should elicit abject horror but mostly plays as comedy.
Movies
For a movie that’s all about literally going home again, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is further proof of just how hard it is to do so figuratively.
“Out of the Furnace’s” plot is almost stunningly straightforward. No twists, no turns. There’s literally nothing fancy about it. Director Scott Cooper just trusts his talented cast to burrow deep into their roles.
James Franco is both the best and the worst thing about “Homefront,” the new backwoods thriller in which Jason Statham turns rednecks into broken-necks.
How good is “Dallas Buyers Club”? Matthew McConaughey shed nearly 50 pounds for his role, blows the walls off of whatever boxes Hollywood has put him in and doesn’t utter a single “awright, awright, awright.”
“Thor” was half of a very good superhero movie. Thrust into a civilization of Earthlings he couldn’t quite comprehend, Chris Hemsworth’s swaggering Asgardian made for some delightful god-of-thunder-out-of-water moments.
It’s being positioned as “The Hangover” for the stooped over. A raucous “Cocoon” in a casino. But “Last Vegas” isn’t that movie.
By now, raving about Benedict Cumberbatch has become as commonplace as chatting about the weather or complaining about that thing Miley Cyrus won’t stop doing with her tongue.
“Rush” is so engrossing, you can be completely swept away even if you don’t know your Formula One from your Formula 409.
“The Spectacular Now” rode out of Sundance atop an avalanche of positive buzz and near-rapturous reviews.
The story of Cecil Gaines, a White House butler spanning seven administrations, is ever-so-loosely based on the life of the late Eugene Allen. But the result is too reverent to feel like fiction, too improbable to feel like the truth.
“Elysium” is many things, but subtle isn’t one of them. Too bad, really, because otherwise, the grim, grimy tale from “District 9” writer-director Neill Blomkamp is a quite good — excellent by this summer’s standards — rough-and-tumble sci-fi tale of the haves vs. the have-nots.
(Most) everyone’s favorite X-Men super hero, Wolverine, goes from self-punishing vagabond to master ninja fighter, but amazingly something is still missing.
“The Way, Way Back” feels like the ultimate summer movie… of 1983. No cities are leveled. No planets are ruined. The only thing that blows up is a relationship.
In these uncertain times, we all want bright futures for our children. The best thing you could do for them right now? Train little Bobby or Susie to dedicate months of their life to constructing elaborate digital cityscapes only to have them carelessly torn asunder. If this summer is any indication, they’ll never want for food.