Browse Tag: jude law

RECAP: Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel (2019): Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck

It took 11 years, but Marvel finally released a female-led stand-alone entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character alluded to but not mentioned in Avengers: Infinity War needed an introduction before her presumed-essential role in Avengers: Endgame, released later in the year.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: An human-turned-Kree becomes more powerful when she returns to Earth to learn her identity and battle some aliens bent on destroying the home planet she doesn’t remember.  Continue Reading

RECAP: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011): Guy Ritchie

The Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes series took a page from Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. Widely regarded as the best of the trilogy, if not the best comic book movie ever, The Dark Knight was the second Batman movie and the time to feature the hero’s most iconic villain.

Likewise, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the second in the series, debuts Holmes’s most iconic villain, Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime.

Sherlock Holmes was a fine film, but its sequel, like The Dark Knight, is a masterpiece. I imagine the filmmakers used the first movies to get their feet wet, work out the kinks, etc., and in the second films, with the best villains, the race was easier to run, and the films superior in nearly every aspect.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Sherlock Holmes and his reluctant best friend John Watson race across Europe to prevent a math teacher from starting a global, industrial war.  Continue Reading

RECAP: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (2009): Guy Ritchie

Have you heard of a literary detective from Britain named Sherlock Holmes? He’s quite famous across The Pond.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Sherlock Holmes matches wits with a supposed wizard who returned from the dead to rule Britain and the world.  Continue Reading

RECAP: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017): Guy Ritchie

Have you heard of the Camelot legends? You haven’t? Not for a few days? Have I got a movie for you!

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Arthur, young and not yet a king, draws Excalibur and faces his uncle, Vortigern, a usurper.  Continue Reading

RECAP: eXistenZ

eXistenZ (1999): David Cronenberg

Released one month after possibly the best virtual-reality action film in history (The Matrix), David Cronenberg gave us a trimmed down, world-within-a-world semi-action thriller called eXistenZ.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: A game designer targeted for murder flees alongside her colleague and is forced to play her game to determine who’s after her…or is it? Continue Reading

RECAP: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004): Kerry Conran

In the pre-Superman era, popular culture was dominated by pulp fictions, stories printed on the cheapest paper made and consumer by children. When they weren’t reading about the exploits of Dick Tracy or The Shadow, they were listening to them on the radio.

Kerry Conran loved those pulp serials growing up, and he worked hard to make his own. Nearly all of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was filmed on a green screen. Unlike many CGI spectacles, Sky Captain eschewed realism in its sets and backgrounds.

Many locations appear like mattes on canvas, adding terrific style. Also adding to style are the art deco pastiche. These are the biggest draws of the film. Come for the style, stay for the action.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Joe Sullivan, Sky Captain, and Polly Perkins, intrepid reporter, chase a mad scientist across the globe to foil his world-beating plans.  Continue Reading