What is the “perfect” length of a movie? According to a new poll of 2,000 Americans conducted by Talker Research, “the ideal average length” of a movie is just 92 minutes — just an hour and a half. It is not clear to me whether that number includes closing credits or not. Their report finds that “the … Read more
Like the other adaptations of “Dune,” this new one can’t do much with the exotic mix-and-match appropriation of Middle Eastern traditions, language and religious concepts except keep them, since the story wouldn’t be “Dune” without them. But it does seem to consciously lean into it a bit more in the second chapter, perhaps by way of provocation and complication, while … Read more
“Dune” is the culmination-to-date of Villeneuve’s “simple/gigantic” phase. The story of House Atreides is a tragedy that becomes an underdog revenge-and-reinvention story, while at the same time plugging into mid-century Western pop culture’s fascination with hallucinogenic drugs, altered states of consciousness, a substratum of Orientalism, and what’s now called a “white savior” narrative, in the … Read more
While it’s usually considered Steven Seagal’s best movie, in Under Siege, the pony-tailed star’s screen time was limited. Andrew Davis’ Under Siege is usually considered Steven Seagal’s best movie. However, at the time, most critics singled out Tommy Lee Jones’s performance as the baddie, Strannix, as a scene-stealer. According to Nick de Semlyen’s new book, … Read more
As perfect a film as has ever been made, the original 1976 “Rocky” has become part of the pop culture unconscious, holding its spot as tightly as “Casablanca” and “It's a Wonderful Life.” It’s also as much of a medium-realigning work as the blockbuster that came out one year later, the first “Star Wars” (eventually subtitled “A New Hope”), … Read more
Matthew Vaughn says the Argylle trailer only includes footage from first 28 minutes to avoid spoiling some “f**king mind-blowing cool shit.” There’s nothing worse than a trailer that spoils the movie it’s supposed to be promoting, but that won’t be a problem for Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. The first full trailer for the upcoming spy adventure … Read more
We’re in the home stretch to the release of FastXthe tenth and penultimate film in the Fast & Furious franchise. (Or maybe not, according to Vin Diesel at the recent premiere.) Whether there is one more of these sequels or ten more, this one is about an elaborate revenge plot executed by a new villain … Read more
Pierce Brosnan stars as Crown, a wealthy, mysterious art thief who steals Monet’s masterpiece “San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk” from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rene Russo is Catherine Banning, the insurance investigator who is determined to catch Crown so that her company won’t have to pay the museum $100 million. Brosnan gives one of … Read more