Feature Essays
The Best Films of 2018
2018 was a pretty great year for feature films. I remember saying the same thing about 2017, and it's true: it really seems to me ...
REVIEW: Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)
A police officer in a northern Chinese city is the sole survivor of a horrifying shoot-out that leaves both criminals and his fellow officers dead. Five years later, he is an alcoholic security guard. A former colleague drags him back into the fold when his last police case, long thought closed, suddenly swings open with ...
REVIEW: Christopher Robin (2018)
Decades after leaving the Hundred Acre Wood for boarding school, troubled veteran Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) now works in middle-management at a London-based luggage company. Neglecting his wife (Hayley Atwell) and daughter for his job, Christopher reaches an ethical crisis when he is confronted with firing half of his staff to save the company money. ...
REVIEW: The Wandering Earth (2019)
The sun has started to swell and die. To save humanity, the world's governments have banded together and constructed thousands of engines across the Earth's surface. Once installed, they propel the planet out of its solar system and onto a 2,500 journey to resettle in Alpha Centauri. 17 years into the mission, just as astronaut ...
REVIEW: Arctic (2018)
A man (Mads Mikkelsen) takes shelter in a crashed light aircraft, one that has been half-buried in the snow of the Arctic tundra. He lives alone, the sole survivor of a deadly crash. When a helicopter arrives and, in the most disastrous of coincidences, crashes as well, he finds himself caring for a badly injured ...
REVIEW: Cold Pursuit (2019)
Nelson Coxman (Liam Neeson) lives a quiet life as a snowplow driver in a Colorado ski town. His long, dedicated service has seen him receive Citizen of the Year. His idyllic life is shattered when his adult son is found dead, apparently from a heroin overdose. Refusing to believe the evidence, he soon discovers his ...
REVIEW: Kaili Blues (2016)
The following synopsis is going to severely under-sell Kaili Blues, but here goes: Chen (Yongzhong Chen) is a reformed ex-con living in China's Guizhou province. He operates a small medical clinic with an elderly colleague, although of late he has become concerned about how his disreputable brother is treating his nephew Weiwei (Feiyang Luo). When he learns ...
REVIEW: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Four teenagers in detention find themselves sucked inside an old Jumanji videogame cartridge, receiving new bodies (played by Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black) and a life-or-death mission to save the fictional jungle nation from an evil archaeologist. Escaping the game means defeating the villain, and each of them only has three in-game lives ...
