Mike D'Angelo
- « Older
- Newer »
Story Archive
-
Screen
‘Phantom Thread’ delivers a bracing, unconventional romance
Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018 Only toward the end does director Paul Thomas Anderson’s long game finally become apparent.
-
Screen
Gary Oldman becomes Winston Churchill in the uneven ‘Darkest Hour’
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017 The film takes a deep dive into political machinations, as a wing of Churchill’s war council pressures him to negotiate with Hitler.
-
Screen
Denzel Washington strains to play a neurotic lawyer in ‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 It's not a terrible performance, but the sweat is visible.
-
Screen
‘Wonder’ treats its sensitive subject a little too carefully
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 Director Stephen Chbosky deftly avoids many of the mawkish pitfalls endemic to this sort of inspirational story.
-
Screen
Military veterans reunite in ‘Last Flag Flying’
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 This film will be only a footnote in Richard Linklater’s rich career.
-
Screen
There’s no cheer in ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 The original film came out only 16 months ago. This is quite a rush job.
-
Screen
George Clooney ineffectively resurrects a Coen brothers script in ‘Suburbicon’
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 Reportedly, it was among the earliest screenplays written by Joel and Ethan Coen.
-
Screen
Darren Aronofsky’s bold ‘Mother!’ is one of 2017’s best films
Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017 Viewers expecting a traditional, psychologically plausible narrative will wind up feeling cheated, even trolled, as it slowly metamorphoses into an unrepentant art film.
-
Screen
‘The Glass Castle’ makes compelling drama from family turbulence
Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017 Adapted from former gossip columnist Jeannette Walls’ 2005 memoir, the film focuses on the turbulent relationship between Jeannette and her father.
-
Screen
Al Gore has nothing new to say in ‘An Inconvenient Sequel’
Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017 It’s a bit like pressing the elevator button again in the hope that doing so will somehow speed things along.
-
A&E
Christopher Nolan puts audiences in the middle of ‘Dunkirk’
Thursday, July 20, 2017 More than 300,000 Allied soldiers pinned down on the beaches of France were successfully evacuated across the English Channel.
-
Screen
Simians and humans wage grim battle in ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’
Thursday, July 13, 2017 It’s a shame the film stacks the deck by making the handful of humans cartoonishly evil, complexity be damned.
-
Noise
Don’t bet on sloppy comedy ‘The House’
Saturday, July 1, 2017 Like most SNL-influenced movies—it's long on semi-improvised goofiness and short on actual jokes.
-
Screen
Bold plot twists can't redeem 'The Book of Henry'
Wednesday, June 14, 2017 This ludicrous movie’s sole pleasure is the sheer brazen nuttiness of its screenplay.
-
Pop Culture
‘Twin Peaks’ returns to a TV world it helped pioneer
Thursday, May 18, 2017 You can see its DNA in everything from The Leftovers to Riverdale
-
Intersection
Las Vegas’ geek game strengthens with Tables Board Game Spot
Thursday, May 11, 2017 For $5 a day, you’ll have unlimited access to some 1,000 games, from classics like Guess Who? to modern favorites like Catan.
-
Screen
Film review: The tricks in ‘Sleight’ are no treat
Thursday, April 27, 2017 Director J.D. Dillard brings nothing particularly fresh to the material, staging violent confrontations that feel unerringly phony.
-
Features
Three limited-release films we hope hit Las Vegas
Thursday, April 27, 2017 Here are some of our indie wishes this summer.
-
Screen
The bonkers ‘Colossal’ works in spite of itself
Thursday, April 20, 2017 Colossal taps into the universal secret conviction that one’s most trivial actions are somehow world-consequential.
-
Screen
‘T2 Trainspotting’ fails to recapture the original film’s energy
Thursday, March 30, 2017 If you’ve never seen Trainspotting, watching it in preparation would be a good idea, as T2 assumes pretty strong familiarity.
-
Screen
Office workers go for the kill in The Belko Experiment
Thursday, March 16, 2017 A large cast of fine actors do their best to provide emotional ballast and some flashes of dark humor.
-
Screen
German comedy 'Toni Erdmann' is an unlikely masterpiece
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017 A bizarrely goofy premise yields a richly human movie.
-
Screen
Film review: 'Billy Lynn' combines an awkward story with awkward visuals
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016 The movie version remains stubbornly on the surface—a surface, moreover, that only a tiny number of people will view as intended.
-
Screen
Hollywood doesn’t dumb it down with alien-encounter film 'Arrival'
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016 Here, for the first time in ages, is proof that “thrilling” and “analytical” aren’t mutually exclusive.
-
Screen
'Deepwater Horizon' salutes real-life courage
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016 This paean to courage and fortitude offers an alternative to recent superhero epics.
-
Screen
Film review: 'Blair Witch' fails to improve on the original's minimalism
Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 It simulates amateurishness in the same highly professional manner as countless Blair Witch rip-offs before it.
-
Screen
Woody Allen goes through the motions with 'Cafe Society'
Wednesday, July 27, 2016 His wit is decidedly rusty now.
-
Screen
'The BFG' falters in bringing a beloved novel to life
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 The film was adapted from Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book.
-
Screen
'The Neon Demon' creates memorable images and an overblown message
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 A worthy, progressive thesis, but subtext elevated to text makes for tedious viewing, even when it’s gorgeous as this.
-
Screen
'Warcraft' puts a lot of effort into being terrible
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Watching it is a different sort of painful experience from watching a blatant hack job like Mortal Kombat or Silent Hill.
-
Screen
'The Lobster' explores a surreal world of mandatory coupling
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 If nothing else, it's endlessly creative, a quality in short supply these days.
-
Screen
Triumphs and travesties of world cinema at this year’s Cannes Film Festival
Friday, May 27, 2016 The festival assembled arguably its best lineup in years, yet most of the finest achievements were completely ignored.
-
Screen
'Sing Street' gets by on enthusiasm and catchy tunes
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 It isn’t likely to spawn two hit soundtrack albums and a tour, as The Commitments did, but it does provide a little bit of soul, however plastic.
-
Features
Three limited-release movies we hope make it to Vegas
Thursday, April 28, 2016 A documentary about tickling endurance, and Colin Farrell possibly playing a lobster.
-
Screen
'The Witch' makes early America a very scary place
Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 Its only goal is to freak the crap out of you, and it succeeds mightily.
-
Screen
Veteran filmmakers show off exciting new works at this year’s Sundance Film Festival
Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 Reminding us that our best filmmakers are still at the top of their game isn't generally Sundance's brand, but who could possibly complain?
-
Screen
Leonardo DiCaprio goes through hell in 'The Revenant'
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 While DiCaprio doesn’t really get the chance to give a great performance, he does manage to convey the character’s intense will to live.
-
Screen
'The Big Short' turns the financial crisis into comedy
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 The film does an admirable job of laying out, step by step, the series of greedy decisions that wound up ruining so many lives.
-
Screen
Will Smith plays a crusading doctor in the predictable 'Concussion'
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 Smith plays the neuropathologist who first identified a degenerative brain disease common among NFL players.
-
Screen
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hold the flimsy 'Sisters' together
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 Some jokes hit, others miss, but the movie as an actual movie feels almost irrelevant.
-
Screen
'Room' unevenly adapts a powerful novel
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015 The story is about a boy who has spent his entire life—literally, since birth—living with his mother in a sociopath’s garden shed.
-
Screen
'Suffragette' flatly dramatizes an important movement
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 As its title suggests, the film tells the story of the battle to secure women the vote.
-
Screen
'Our Brand Is Crisis' turns a political documentary into Hollywood mush
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015 The only thing less believable than the ending is the fact that this movie exists in the first place.
-
Screen
Tom Hanks confidently carries Cold War drama Bridge of Spies
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015 Steven Spielberg's latest flick makes rooting for integrity fun.
-
Screen
'He Named Me Malala' does a disservice to a great activist
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015 Such remarkable courage deserves better.
-
Film
Film review: Robert Redford and Nick Nolte grumble and stumble through 'A Walk in the Woods'
Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 Like most actual walks in the woods, the result will be forgotten as soon as it’s over.
-
Film
Woody Allen brings a light touch to weighty matters in 'Irrational Man'
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 The flick stars Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix (sporting an impressive beer belly).
-
Film
'Amy' artfully explores the life and career of Amy Winehouse
Wednesday, July 8, 2015 The film is as much a celebration as an elegy.
-
Film
'Inside Out' packs an emotional journey for kids and adults
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 Bring the tissues, parents.
-
A&E
Film review: 'In the Name of My Daughter'
Wednesday, May 27, 2015 Based on a true story only recently resolved in court, the French drama is in incisive character study.