“Rush” is so engrossing, you can be completely swept away even if you don’t know your Formula One from your Formula 409.
Christopher Lawrence
Christopher Lawrence is the movie critic for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
clawrence@reviewjournal.com … @life_onthecouch on Twitter. 702-380-4567
There are suspense thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat, and there are suspense thrillers that make you recoil to the point that you’d burrow through the backrest if you could.
A 30-something Jane Austen devotee (Keri Russell) travels to Regency-era England, where she falls in love with both a refined gentleman and a stableboy.
For years, there’s been a sure-fire way to sound like a film snob without actually putting in the effort: Tell anyone who asks that your favorite director is Wong Kar Wai.
“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.
Oh, sure, it may sound stupid. Three fraternity brothers drag their nerdy friend (“Malcolm in the Middle’s” Frankie Muniz) to Las Vegas for spring break. They meet up with three sorority girls who’ve also dragged their nerdy friend to Las Vegas for spring break.
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.
The Lone Ranger is a spirit walker whose life can’t end in battle.
Mindlessness gets a bad rap.
“World War Z” could have been the Amanda Bynes of summer blockbusters.
It has the hallmarks of a failed Match.com date.