The Wicker Man by way of Pulp Fiction, Kill List does not go where you expect it to. Shot on an indie-film budget by sophomore director Ben Wheatley’s (whose debut film Down Terrace garnered considerable acclaim), the film follows two contract killers driving around the English country-side with a list of people they’ve been hired to rub out. But mysterious things are afoot, and soon the mission takes a nightmarish [...]

You know, I’ve never really understood why it’s called The Three Musketeers when it’s always about the fourth one — surely there’s an origin story (or three) we’re missing out on here – but to be perfectly honest, this features quite low on the list of things that baffle me about Paul W.S. Anderson’s adaptation. Far more pressing is the question of how Anderson, the man responsible for [...]

I think, in the grand scheme of things, we have reached the end of what can possibly be achieved with a movie about horse racing. We have Seabiscuit for the classic underdog tale, we have Phar Lap for delving into the seedy underbelly of the business and now we have Secretariat for overcoming obstacles that have little to do with actually racing horses. Added bonus? They’re all true stories. Or [...]

Make no mistake, The Hangover was truly one of the funniest films of the last decade. While the crude comedies coming out of Judd Apatow’s camp were being diluted with sentiment, Todd Phillips’ 2009 smash hit embraced absurdism head-on as it careered from one outrageously hilarious situation to another, never once slowing down to get gushy. And fair enough, too; no one goes to Sin City [...]

Rango may just be the first animated Western/comedy with a cast of characters made up entirely of animals. In fact, I’m sure of it. But does it stand out from the recent deluge of computer animation on the big screen? You can breathe a sigh of relief, because it certainly does. And you won’t be made to wrap a crappy pair of 3-D glasses around your face to enjoy it [...]

I’m beginning to suspect that the Catholic Church has Hollywood producers under some sort of contractual obligation, the particulars stating that they must release one exorcist movie a year in which a doubtful priest reasserts his faith and confirms the existence of demons. Otherwise, I’m at a loss to explain why movies such as Mikael Håfström’s The Rite exist. Here is a film so ponderously pious, I half expected to [...]