‘Slow West’: Moseying to a showdown

HollywoodandFine.com Be warned. John Maclean’s directorial debut, “Slow West,” practices truth in advertising. But “slow” seems harsh as an adjective for this compelling film. “Patient” would be a more apt description; “studied” or “measured” would be two more. Because, in presenting this Scotsman’s gloss on a tale of America’s Old …

‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ – The end is nigh

HollywoodandFine.com These feel like cinematic end times – not in terms of Hollywood movies (that horse is already out of the barn), but in the pack-mentality, “hey, it’s good enough” approach of critics to the colossus that bestrides summer movies, otherwise known as the Marvel Universe. I speak specifically of …

‘Ex Machina’: Mechanical

HollywoodandFine.com “Ex Machina” is both tastily minimal and frustratingly simplistic. Alex Garland’s directing debut (he wrote “28 Days Later” and “Sunshine”) is, in essence, a three-hander about three people in a house. OK, a high-tech mansion, but you get the point. Yet, after tantalizing us with increasingly imaginative developments and …

‘Child 44’: Leave this ‘Child’ behind

HollywoodandFine.com Certainly the pedigree of “Child 44” makes it seem promising. Directed by Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”) from a script by Richard Price, it features a sturdy, heavily British international cast led by Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Vincent Cassel and Noomi Rapace. But the timing of the release …

‘The Gunman’: Cashing the check, paying the price

HollywoodandFine.com Sean Penn is a global activist who puts his money – and, more important, his physical self – where others barely pay lip service. His advocacy on behalf of the voiceless is stirring, but it obviously is also time-consuming and costly. So when a paycheck role like “The Gunman” …

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