Jennifer lawrence

Director Bryan Singer helms a sprawling epic that’s merely cobbled together from familiar plot points and franchise curtain calls.

A maverick gets attacked by bears. They’re beaten down by a cutthroat, capitalist system and threatened by partners who aren’t as trustworthy as they seem. After a series of blows and ostensible defeats, they persevere. Inspired by dreams of family, they ignore their detractors and challenge the machinations of evil commerce. In the end, they …

The following piece contains SPOILERS for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. Proceed with caution. This is Part 4 of a 4 part series leading up to the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, each looking at an individual film in the series and it’s legacy. Read Part 3 here.  The …

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 Written by Danny Strong and Jon Kilik Directed by Francis Lawrence U.S.A., 2015 The anticipation that comes with the release of the final installment of a massively popular and beloved film franchise is always palpable. The Return of the King, Revenge of the Sith (Star Wars fans, at the …

  With the recent cinematic release of the latest installment of The Hunger Games series, Mockingjay- Part 1, it seems to be the perfect time to look into some of the more predominant themes and allegorical references in this wildly popular franchise. Being that these films have been adapted from Suzanne Collin’s trilogy of bestselling …

This is Part 2 of a 4 part series leading up to the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part II, each looking at an individual film in the series and it’s legacy. Read Part 1 here. Catching Fire is better than The Hunger Games. It did better than its predecessor both with critics …

This is Part 1 of a 4 part series leading up to the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part II, each looking at an individual film in the series and it’s legacy.  The Hunger Games series is special. It does things differently, operates on a different spectrum than most blockbusters. Some of the …

Jennifer Lawrence gives off that vibe that she could immediately become your bestie, but Amy Schumer is lucky enough to have it actually become a reality. Lawrence told The New York Times Wednesday that she and Schumer are working together, writing a comedic screenplay in which the two will both star and play sisters. The …

Passengers is a big budget sci-fi romance that has been bouncing around for years now, but with the massive box office success of Jurassic World, Sony Pictures has finally greenlighted the project with two newly massive stars: Jennifer Lawrence and Jurassic World’s Chris Pratt. THR describes Passengers as Gravity with romance, and it’s a sci-fi …

Based on a bestselling novel by Ron Rash, Serena, as brought to the screen by director Susanne Bier and screenwriter Christopher Kyle, feels like a husk of an adaptation even to one completely unfamiliar with the source material. It’s the sort of film that, at least in the form prepped for theatrical release, makes one inclined to believe its makers have completely lost the ability to tell a story. And it’s not like that ever seems like a deliberate stylistic choice, with Bier actually focusing on some thematic flourish off on the sidelines. Serena is always focused on its plot. Its perpetually rushed, choppily told, borderline confusing plot.

Pairing Steven Spielberg and Jennifer Lawrence, the biggest A-list director and arguably the biggest A-list actress today, seems like a no-brainer no matter what they’re working on. But with a property as hot as Lynsey Addario’s memoir, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War, it’s got prestige and awards pedigree written …

2014 was a good year for women in film. Recently, it was revealed that the top ten most searched stars on IMDB this year were all women. This on its own might not mean much, given the off-screen personas of today’s women and the fascination with their personal lives. Coupled with a careful examination of …

The splitting of the conclusions of recent fantasy or sci-fi franchises into two parts (or more – looking at you, Peter Jackson) has been financially successful for Hollywood studios, but less so creatively. Only arguable trendsetter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I proved a satisfying film in its own right by being so rich in character interplay and having an actual sense of progression. Mockingjay – Part I is heavy on character beats, but they are repetitive ones due to its limited scope through withholding all the big stuff until Part 2.

While news of of a Quentin Tarantino film going into development is always met with a level of excitement, fans of the filmmaker have gone on a bit of a rollercoaster with his newest project. Titled The Hateful Eight, Tarantino initially scrapped the film following the leak of his script to the public, before staging …

X-Men: Days of Future Past Written by Simon Kinberg Directed by Bryan Singer USA, 2014 It may be a slightly ominous sign that the best scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past features a totally new character to the infinite universe of mutants, who then all but vanishes from the rest of the film. Still, …

X-Men: Days of Future Past Written by Simon Kinberg Directed by Bryan Singer USA, 2014 The key virtue of the X-Men films has been their mutant-like ability to seamlessly blend with other genres. The Wolverine worked as samurai cinema. First Class played well as a Cold War-era Bond thriller. Since the comic’s inception, X-Men has been the “…in bed” fortune …

American Hustle Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell Directed by David O. Russell USA, 2013 Watching American Hustle puts one in mind of the old anecdote relayed by the late Roger Ebert. He wrote of a child prodigy, invited to play an impossibly difficult piece of music on piano for one of …

If there is one theme to take away from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it is the utter demolition of the concept of the happy ending. None of the surviving characters from The Hunger Games has had the happy ending of the first film persist for them, and none can foresee a happy ending to the events portrayed here.

With I Am Legend and Constantine in his filmography, two not entirely successful features but both ones with impressive sequences here and there, director Francis Lawrence would seem an adequate fit for a populist sci-fi or fantasy franchise instalment.

Before Zach Galifianakis gained mass popularity for being one third of the odd trio that comprised the core cast of The Hangover, he was known in the comedy community for his Between Two Ferns series, which sees Galifianakis interview actors, with the conversation not going the way these things tend to go. Now, with the Academy …

Now that we are nearing the big awards of the season, it is time to revisit the nominations and predictions for the 2013 BAFTAs.  Part 2 will cover the following categories: (see part one here) Best Film Best British Film Leading Actor Leading Actress Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress Best Director The EE BAFTA …

For better or worse, films don’t exist in a vacuum. If literature derives from itself, and, according to Marshall McLuhan, the content in any new medium is always the same as in the old, then films don’t exactly have a wealth of opportunities to be original. You can always compare a film to one that …

Silver Linings Playbook Directed by David O. Russell Written by David O. Russell USA, 2012 Sometimes, it’s OK if you know the destination as long as the journey is plenty of fun. That’s the basic underlying principle of Silver Linings Playbook, a massively enjoyable crowd-pleaser that presents an off-kilter brand of romantic comedy, where most …