Review – Quoth The Raven, “Netflix!” (“The Pale Blue Eye”)

Adapted from Louis Bayard’s 2003 novel, this Netflix-exclusive movie is written & directed by Scott Cooper, who has given us the bizarre movies Antlers, Hostiles, and Crazy Heart. And since this is about Batman meeting Dudley Dursely, I’d say that’s about right.  In the deadly winter’s chill of 1830, retired veteran detective Augustus Landor (Christian…

Review – Wait, Didn’t Neeson Do This Before? (“Memory”)

A remake of the 2003 Belgian film, The Alzheimer Case, it looks like Liam Neeson is slowly going the Bruce Willis/Nicholas Cage route; making movie after movie regardless of content or story. What’s next, Liam? Babysitting kids? Space aliens? More or less following the same beats of the 2003 movie, Neeson plays Alex Lewis, a…

Review – Hell Hath No Fury Like Statham (“Wrath of Man”)

A remake of the 2004 French film Cash Truck, producer/co-writer/director Guy Ritchie takes a holiday and, instead of putting his usual quirky and off-beat spin in filmmaking, decided to take a different approach with this hard-boiled, gritty, and Rashomon-style crime thriller. Like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle, this non-linear story takes us through several timelines, different…

Review – Play It Again, Sam (“Motherless Brooklyn”)

Based on Jonathan Lethem’s novel, Edward Norton takes a crack at both adapting the screenplay AND directing this old fashioned 50’s detective noir with private dicks, crooked politician’s, damsels in distress, a mystery to be solved, twists & turns, and all with a smokey blues riff. * Downtown NYC in the 50’s and private detective…