Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb Written by David Guion and Michael Handelman Directed by Shawn Levy USA/UK, 2014 Getting the band back together for one final gig is almost never a good idea. In the case of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, however, there’s enough ingenuity and fun to …
As soon as the title card interrupts an otherwise calm beginning, it’s clear that this film is going to be absolutely bonkers. More importantly, it’s going to be so much fun to watch. It delivers on that first impression and more, never letting up in its sense of genre-bending glee and always doubling down on its extremes while maintaining a level head aesthetic tension. This is a film that puts a wicked grin on the audience, similar to the wicked grin its mysterious central character sports.
There is a moment in the new thriller, A Walk Among the Tombstones, that you really feel things shifting into overdrive. The unstable elements in the film collide to raise expectations for the excitement to come. Unfortunately, that moment occurs about 90 minutes into the movie. The previous 90 minutes are consumed by Liam Neeson trying to solve a case we don’t care about while being distracted by a subplot we grow to despise. Predictable at every turn, this is a thrill-free zone that makes Non-Stop look like a masterpiece of suspense.
The Guest Written by Simon Barrett Directed by Adam Wingard USA, 2014 From the writer and director of sleeper hit, You’re Next, Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard bring another energetic crowd pleaser. The Guest makes for a great midnight movie, playing like an old-fashioned action/slasher thriller that features a twisted, creepy, but incredibly likable killer. …