A young man must find a way out of a human trafficking operation in São Paulo, in the new film by Brazilian-American filmmaker Alexandre Moratto.
Read MoreSteven Soderbergh’s latest film, available on HBO Max, feels like the product of the filmmaker getting together with some frequent collaborators to knock out a film just because they enjoy it, not unlike a jam session. The result isn’t particularly cutting-edge or fresh, but there’s something to be said for when creatives meet up to bounce ideas around.
Read MoreIt’s meant as a bitter commentary about the nexus between capitalism, ambition, and the way we treat our elders. But the bitterness is so intense that it lingers after the credits roll, causing you to wonder if the movie accomplished much at all, besides its stylish presentation and strong performances.
Read MoreIt is easy to root for Angie, whose characterization departs drastically from the usual East Asian trope of the meek daughter of a domineering father who needs a Romeo to save her. In Triad Princess, Angie is Romeo and Xu Yi Hang the more passive and obedient Juliet.
Read MoreThe multiple timelines make it difficult to follow, and each episode feels different; at times, it’s a family drama moving at a snail’s pace, and during others it’s an action epic or a sadistic crime thriller. Chen’s vision is expansive, but its weak storytelling and confusing editing muddies the final product.
Read MoreShot in Ontario and Newfoundland, Canada, the precise setting is left vague, though we intuit it could be on either side of the American/Canadian border. Other details about the premise are just as sparse: Chris Davis (Mark O’Brien) is smuggling bags of cash across the border.
Read MoreWhat keeps Trank coming back, however, is his ability to craft some really great scenes. Dark, moody and – at times – self-destructive, it feels like Capone’s material speaks to Trank’s personality and career in a personal way, but much like his other projects, it never quite comes together with an overarching big idea.
Read MoreHe’s powerless from the start, and it’s a dangerous fuel to Jahkor’s pride and short fuse, both of which end up consuming him. The film constantly reminds you about institutionalized racism; “they teach you how to survive, but they don’t teach you how to live” is a common refrain.
Read MoreIt’s a good-enough premise, but the moral question it posits is far more interesting. There’s a lot of torture, and a lot of it to good end. Important plot information is revealed usually when Nazis are tortured, and when the situation is flipped and the Nazis do the torturing, it’s usually to show the strength of Jews. I don’t think Hunters endorses torture, but simply by tolerating torture we may not be as progressive as we thought, especially given all the scientific advances made during the war years.
Read MoreHalf the time I was amused by how Ritchie can keep the most convoluted plots with an extraneous number of screwball characters interesting, but the other half of the time I’m fiddling with the keys in my pocket pretending I have some sort of fast forward button.
Read MoreThat’s about the extent Just Mercy is willing to go as far as a critique of America’s justice system, otherwise it’s a fine legal drama that plays like so many other of them do. Based on a true story, Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan, a young black lawyer who studied at Harvard and has started his own practice, the Equal Justice Initiative, in 1980’s Alabama.
Read MoreEverywhere Howard goes is a riot of emotion and crosstalk: boasts and deals are made, and (less frequently) apologies are offered. Just as you need a lot of pressure and energy to ignite a star, or to form a gemstone, it’s clear that you need something similar (albeit on a more human scale) to survive in Howard’s world.
Read MoreThere is so much care, thought and detail put into the show it’s mesmerizing even on second watch. The era-specific cars, restaurants, technology and social issues is compelling television. This is absolutely Fincher’s doing, whose characters are often investigators, and by extension pays a lot of attention to details in his scenes.
Read MoreTriple Frontier, with its all-male cast of ex-special forces operatives who decide to rob a drug dealer's stash of cash, made you believe with its marketing that it was an action shoot 'em up with cliched one-liners about duty, honour and how their own society has rejected them as a bunch of marginal contributors.
That's not this movie.
Read MoreWhile Season 1 immersed itself with biker gangs, huge bags of cocaine, alcohol abuse and nihilism, and some edge-of-your-seat sequences, Season 3 prefers the slow burn, with tension, intrigue and drama taking center stage.
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