Author: Cory Woodroof
With ‘Baby Driver,’ Edgar Wright revs up an instant classic
Through the smash-bang symphony Baby Driver, Edgar Wright, the beloved genre king behind Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, brings passion to pulp. Baby Driver is nearly two hours of joy, spontaneity, creativity and gripping gravity, all packaged in a Rube Goldberg machine, where every finger tap, blinking light, music note, street sign and…
Cars 3 floors past predecessor, gets series back on road
With the weight of its predecessor weighing down on it like 500 Hummers, the newest installment in Pixar’s Cars universe floors it back to where it all began, and finds its footing (err, wheeling?). The first Cars films was an amiable, loving ode to small town values (the “Our Town” sequence a damning fist to…
Wonder Woman an epic step forward in blockbuster filmmaking
In the immortal words of Dolly Levi, “it takes a woman!” It’s precisely the lesson Hollywood needed to learn as it scratched its head, wondering how to keep the highly-lucrative superhero genre afloat in a sea of familiarity and waning patience from audiences and critics alike. They wanted something fresh. They got it. Tinseltown has…
David Michôd’s War Machine works well as cautionary tale, not as satire
War is Hell, but War Machine is frustrating. David Michôd’s somewhat-satire of the Obama era’s continued efforts in the Afghanistan insurgency is far from a spirited successor to Dr. Stangelove; it’s more a nuanced look at the sobering complexities of the war through the eyes of fictional general Glen McMahon, based in part on Gen.…
Pirates of the Caribbean-There, Done That: Latest Entry is Fun and Forgettable
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales doesn’t try to be either a good, or bad, movie. It’s a Pirates sequel – where the self-barometer is always leveled at “fun” or “not fun.” Thankfully, it’s fun! In the age of recycled entertainment, the latest film takes the familiar form of its three previous sequels…