BIG GAME Review — Big Stars, Big Fun
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson The Scandinavian thriller called Rare Exports made a big underground splash. It helped Finnish director Jalmari Helander get his next movie – another dark little thriller but with much bigger marquee names –made. Big Game stars Samuel L. Jackson as the President of the United States, Ray Stevenson as a…
Mad Max Fashion — Apocalyptic Chic
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson Mad Max: Fury Road costume designer Jenny Beavan won the Oscar a few years back for The King’s Speech (and has been nominated for many other films), but she’s never had quite the thrill she did working with director George Miller on his retro-futuristic reboot, which is going #1 with…
POLTERGEIST Review: Does it Have a Ghost of a Chance?
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson Poltergeist is not out yet at the time of this writing, but some of the reviews are. And they are not kind. I’m assuming those are from hardcore horror fans who hate on anything that’s got the remake reek, or they are oldsters fondly remembering the now-dated Tobe Hoper flick…
THE WATER DIVINER Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson THE WATER DIVINER Review The feature directorial debut of Russell Crowe, The Water Diviner, strives to hit a David Lean-style epic note about love and loss in a time of war, but it comes off more like a “Thorn Birds”-type TV melodrama. Not that there’s anything wrong with that –…
COP CAR Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson Two ten-year-old runaway boys (James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford) steal a seemingly abandoned cop car from a vacant field, only to find themselves hunted by its unhinged owner. The corrupt redneck sheriff (Kevin Bacon) is relentless in his pursuit of the car-napping kids, who always manage to stay one lap…
SAINT LAURENT Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson While Saint Laurent hits the usual biopics beats – young, idealistic talent gets his big break, spirals into a downward spin fueled by life in the fast lane, dies old and alone – there’s little music or melody between those beats. Saint Laurent is a life flashed in highlights and lowlights,…
UNFRIENDED Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson If legendary cinematic showman William Castle were alive today, he’d probably be making movies just like this. You see, Unfriended is a gimmick flick. The action unfolds entirely on the screen of an internet user’s laptop – she checks her email, Googles stuff, goes to Facebook and Skypes with her…
FURIOUS 7 Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson Furious 7 Review The Fast and the Furious was one of the first films I reviewed and covered as a new entertainment reporter back in 2001. I thought it was cheesy, but I loved all the street-peeling hotrods. It was all about the vroooming vehicles! As the franchise went on,…
DIAL A PRAYER Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson If everyone’s using their cells these days, this movie might have been better-titled as Punch A Prayer or Text A Prayer (in fact, I’m sure there’s an app for that). It’s set in present time, but Dial A Prayer, starring Brittany Snow as Cora – an unwilling mini-messiah – has…
TRUE STORY Review
By Staci Layne Wilson @StaciWilson Liars are everywhere in our everyday existence – politicians, attorneys, children, spouses, and even in the mirror. An extensive 2002 study by University of Massachusetts’s Robert Feldman found that people told two lies in a 10-minute conversation, and 10 lies per week on average. (What with the surge of social media…
