Michael Pena
Trailer Trashin’: David O. Russell Gets Groovy with American Hustle
Hello again, dear readers. I hope at least some of you got out to see Machete Kills over the weekend – we need to get those box office numbers up! But moving on from films paying tribute to the 1970s to films actually set in the 1970s, this week’s new installment of Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at David O. Russell’s upcoming period drama American Hustle. Premise: Brilliant con m...[Read More]
Movie Review: Gangster Squad
While certainly loud, somewhat sexy, and decked out in all the accurate aesthetic trappings of 1930s Los Angeles, Gangster Squad turns out to be merely a dim cousin to sincere works like L.A. Confidential or Michael Mann’s intimate Public Enemies due to a battery of corny, faux-noir line readings and the bludgeoning candy-gore sensibility of Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less director Ruben Fleisch...[Read More]
Movie Review: Tower Heist
Tower Heist is a timely action comedy about the seething discontent felt by so many after the financial collapse and the revelations detailing Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme to relieve countless investors of their portfolios, retirement parachutes, and children’s piggybank contents. Tower Heist arrives just as disenfranchised U.S. citizens have taken to the streets in the “Occupy” movement, offering...[Read More]