Road to Paloma (2014)

“Road to Paloma,” a leisurely drama about family, brotherhood and Native American rights, plays out on the dusty highways and barren landscapes of an American West that seems frozen in time. Using that quality to powerful effect, the director, Jason Momoa, and his cinematographer, Brian Andrew Mendoza, shore up a simple plot with a richly atmospheric palette of coppery light and caramel sunsets that makes even urgent events seem almost...

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The Face of Love (2013)

Love can be a terrible thing. Sharing a life with someone, building a home together, getting married, having children and merging identities to near incongruous levels are all part of the sacrificing and lifetime decision-making one does when finding “the one.” Imagine being so entwined with your better half for years, only to suddenly lose them forever. The waves of shock and horror must be overwhelming because you didn't just lose...

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An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)

  We’ve been talking a lot about the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who lately; God knows I have. In most of it, though many are mentioning the previous Doctors, a lot of our discourse has been about “The Day of the Doctor,” and quite rightly; it’s going to be a multi-Doctor-splosion with (at least) three Doctors teaming up for the first official time since 1983. But, it’s also important to look back at the very beginning, because let’s...

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The Bachelor Weekend (2013)

It makes sense that, given the overwhelming financial success of "The Hangover" franchise, other films would take that formula (of a bachelor party weekend spun wildly out of control) and try to put their unique stamp on the situation. So far we've already had "21 and Over" ("The Hangover" in college), "Last Vegas" ("The Hangover" with old dudes) and, of course, the cream of the crop, "Bridesmaids" ("The Hangover" from the...

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The Hooligan Factory (2014)

Dex, Danny and The Hooligan Factory travel the length of the country on a mission to re-establish their firm’s glory days. However, the police are closing in and we get a sense that the Hooligan Factory’s best days may be behind them, but with Danny on their side, and Dex finding his old form who knows where this may lead. After all… Its a funny old game. Any screenwriting lecturer will tell you that if you want to break into the UK...

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A Long Way Down (2014)

Oh dear.. Sort of tempted to leave the review at that, to be honest, but what would the internet do with all of that white space? So here is a bunch more words about it, and no matter how haphazardly they’re arranged we can take some comfort in the fact that it’s with seemingly more care than went into a certain screenplay. Because the problems with “A Long Way Down,” from director Pascal Chaumeil (of 2010’s French-language “Heartbreaker”)...

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Castlevania - Lords of Shadow 2 [PC Game]

Castlevania: Lords of Shadows is occasionally beautiful, occasionally exciting, and occasionally rewarding. However, to fully enjoy its best parts, you must endure a handful of drab settings and boring stealth puzzles along the way. At times, it's enough to make you want to put the controller down. But stick around until the end, and you'll enjoy a satisfying reward of eye-catching boss fights and a satisfying conclusion that...

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The Double (2013)

With "The Double," English writer/director and sometimes-comedian Richard Ayoade establishes himself as more than just the Wes Anderson acolyte we first met with his quirky 2010 directorial debut feature "Submarine." Set somewhere outside of time, "The Double," which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and just screened at Mexico's Riviera Maya Film Festival, stars Jesse Eisenberg as Simon...

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Oculus (2013)

It’s easy enough to jolt an audience into submission, but that’s not the same thing as getting under its skin. Recent horror movies ranging from the "Paranormal Activity" series to "The Conjuring" excel at the art of the jump scare, though no matter how expertly delivered, it’s a cheap gimmick at best. "Oculus" is an exception. Appropriately being co-released by microbudget fear factory Blumhouse Production — its founder, Jason Blum, ...

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

There are two post-credits sequences in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," and it would be useless and unwise for me to spoil either. One of them will make no sense to you until you've seen the film. The other made no sense to me and I HAVE seen the film. I couldn't explain it if I tried, because it is merely set-up for the next Marvel movie. The audience I was with seemed to know what was going on (there were gasps). Whatever it...

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Watch Dogs [PC Game]

If Watch Dogs is to be believed, then a shocking number of Chicago residents are delinquents. As you roam the city looking to both right what is wrong and make wrong what is right, you hack into its citizens' smartphones and listen in on their conversations, and even tap into their computers and catch a glimpse of them as they enjoy their deviations in the supposed privacy of their own homes. Some of these Chicagoans are chronic...

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Rio 2 (2014)

These days, the potential for animated films is seemingly limitless. In the past few months, we've seen Disney's boldly contemporary fairy tale "Frozen" deservedly become the highest grossing animated movie of all time, while Hayao Miyazaki was able to delicately frame the story of a man who made war machines as a love letter to artistic pursuit with "The Wind Rises," and "The Lego Movie" transcended its commercial base to become a dazzlingly...

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