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.
Christopher Lawrence
“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.
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