W.E. – 2 Buckets

Given her status as the Queen of Pop, it makes sense that Madonna’s second feature film as a writer/director (following 2008’s barely distributed Filth and Wisdom) would explore the way that audiences project their own… [Read more]

Drive – 1 1/2 Buckets

There is so much right with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, but the tone that the director strikes late in the film–and, in turn, the film’s perceived attitude toward violence–essentially renders the great stuff all for naught. I make this assertion… [Read more]

Sucker Punch – 1 Bucket

“Imagination” is always the buzzword that fanboys and critics alike use when discussing the films of Zack Snyder, who seems to be garnering the reputation of 21st Century Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg despite the fact that he only has two good movies under his belt. Ironically, both movies, Dawn of the Dead and Watchmen, were adaptations [...]

Body of Lies – 2 Buckets

Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies talks like an intimate character-study set amidst contemporary U.S.-Middle East geopolitics, walks like a loud and explosive action-film, and ends up mastering neither genre nor a combination thereof. It feels like the talent involved couldn’t decide whether they wanted to makeSyriana, Rambo, or The Kingdom and what resulted was a vat of emptiness. Body [...]