Quoc Bao Tran’s film is a fresh take on the action genre, following three former kung fu students avenging their master’s murder.
action
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Film Review: “The Gunman”
It’s beyond heartbreaking when wealthy, middle-aged white men can’t find work as action heroes, so cheers to French filmmaker Pierre Morel for singlehandedly doing something to address their plight. After announcing his arrival with 2004’s entertainingly dumb “District B13,” Morel went on to reinvent Liam Neeson’s career (2008’s “Taken”), then — well, he kept John […]
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“Edge of Tomorrow”
A collection of uninspired trailers sold “Edge of Tomorrow” as a derivative, effects-driven science-fiction action thriller, and to be fair, it is — calling to mind everything from “Aliens” to “Starship Troopers” melded into a high-concept premise inspired by “Groundhog Day.” But what those trailers drastically undersold is how much fun the film is and […]
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Film Review: “Need for Speed”
Inspired by the long-running video-game series of the same name, “Need for Speed” is the first major-studio starring role for actor Aaron Paul in his post-“Breaking Bad” career. After award-winning work on that series and strong performances in a number of smaller indie films, Paul is no doubt being flooded with offers for work. With […]
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Film Review: “Non-Stop”
Although it fits quite obviously into that broad, vague category of the cinematic thriller, the new movie “Non-Stop” actually contains an unusual combination of elements. It takes place almost entirely inside an airplane flying across the Atlantic from New York to London, establishing a setting and situation naturally fraught with a certain tension, even before […]
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Film Review: “3 Days to Kill”
If nothing else, the new movie “3 Days to Kill” demonstrates once again that filmmakers should be grateful for the mere existence, as well as the checkered history, of the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA provides the subject for countless thrillers, and in the future no doubt will continue to attract the interest of directors […]
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Film Review: “Pompeii”
Director Paul W.S. Anderson has made a career out of making capably directed, but critically reviled, effects-driven B-movies. He’s responsible for the entire series of “Resident Evil” films (and just signed a deal to direct the sixth, and supposedly final, installment) as well as “Event Horizon” and “Mortal Kombat,” both films with devoted cult followings. […]
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Film Review: “RoboCop”
“RoboCop” is the latest film remake to hit theaters — on a weekend that saw no fewer than three 80’s movies getting modern adaptations — giving the Paul Verhoeven sci-fi-action classic a shiny new hardware upgrade. While it is leaps and bounds better than the previous attempt to duplicate a Verhoeven masterwork (2012’s dreadful “Total […]
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Film Review: “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”
After a 12-year absence, Jack Ryan, Tom Clancy’s popular CIA analyst hero, returns to the big screen in Kenneth Branagh’s “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.” Paramount Pictures’ latest attempt to reboot the series of films that began back in 1990 with John McTiernan’s “The Hunt For the Red October,” this new film recasts Ryan a young […]
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Film Review: “I, Frankenstein”
Although not nearly so prolific in its progeny as another 19th-century novel, “Dracula,” Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” has generated numerous adaptations to the screen, beginning with the classic 1931 version, starring Boris Karloff as the monster. Since that time, both audiences and filmmakers have confused the creature and his creator, so that the title often incorrectly […]
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“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
It’s a difficult task crafting a successful middle chapter of an established story. On one hand, the tedious work of establishing the world in which the tale is set has been done; but on the other, without the benefit of a proper conclusion, you run the risk of delivering a less-than-satisfying experience for the audience. […]
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“Ender’s Game”
The ambiguity of its title reflects some of the same quality in the content of “Ender’s Game.” Ender Wiggin, the protagonist and intermittent narrator, plays numerous advanced versions of video games throughout the movie, some of them forming an integral part of the action; at the same time, as the script puns on his name, […]
