Terrence Howard

After the events of “The Truth,” it’s understandable that the next installment of Wayward Pines would feel like the series was coming back down to earth.

You can say this for Wayward Pines: for a show that’s built on big mysteries and has a lot of actors that most shows would kill to have around for a few episodes, it’s not a show that has any reticence about making big moves.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newest film, ‘Sabotage’, is violent. Violent in a way that they rarely make ’em anymore. Violent in a way that only the star of ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Total Recall’ can get away with.

Such is the current culture in the filmmaking world that the very notion of suggesting ‘remake’ is considered sacrilege, but the problem isn’t in the concept, it’s in the choices. The worst thing you can do in the writing room, and on the set, is mishandle a great story. It is these motion pictures, not the Verhoven classics or yesteryear horror flicks, that require a second attempt.

Overstuffed with an A-list cast, Denis Villeneuve’s (Incendies, Polytechnique) Prisoners is a funereal and often shocking meditation on what people are capable of doing for their loved ones. Permeated with savagery and blood, this is a film that forces ghastly situations on the audience which they’ve likely seen before but are hopefully not entirely numb to processing from a victim’s point of view. The drive behind what holds a family together for better or worse is showcased in painful detail. Gruesome, agonizing, and distressing, Prisoners goes for the jugular and leaves everyone wincing at the hideous view of the human condition that it leaves in its wake.

Winnie Mandela Written by Darrell Roodt and Andre Pieterse Directed by Darrell Roodt Canada/South Africa, 2011 Darrell Roodt’s film Winnie Mandela is an oddity. It’s almost trying to be two movies squeezed into the running time of one: first, a typical biography of the “Mother of the Nation” of South Africa; later, a dark and ambiguous look …

Dead Man Down Directed by Niels Arden Oplev Written by J.H. Wyman USA, 2013 It’s hard to tell exactly when Dead Man Down topples over totally into an overwhelming sense of self-seriousness, to pinpoint which of Colin Farrell’s many soulful looks into the grim abyss of New York City is the one that pushes this …

Movie anthologies have seen a rise in recent years, with several filmmakers collaborating on a series of short films, often with a common theme running through them, such as all being set in the same city, or all belonging to the same genre. The latest addition to this entry is Movie 43, which features a …