Author: Ian D.

Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender met on the set of The Light Between Oceans. They are an upsettingly attractive couple. They are two Oscar-nominated actors (Vikander is a winner) that are enjoying peak career moments. So when writer/director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) decided to adapt a heart-wrenching book of a couple on the emotional brink it must have felt like fate for the pair. What a romantic story in such an angelic setting.

Director Todd Phillips doesn’t exactly have a wide range. Since his debut movie Road Trip (2000) he has gone on to mine bro culture while creating some of Greek Rows most revered figures. Frank the Tank (Old School,) Alan, Stu and Phil (The Hangover) are synonymous with dorm room walls and frat parties, sure to be part of the lexicon for as long as boys will be boys.

It’s extremely clear after witnessing the new DC-Comics adaptation Suicide Squad this week that Warner Bros. has a problem on their hands. In their haste to build an interconnected, Marvel-esque world they have made grave mistakes. What made the original Avengers a landmark film was how carefully planned and plotted it was. Each character was given standalone origin movies (some weaker than others but you know the drill) with unique personalities that were given hours of screen time to develop.

When The Bourne Identity was released in 2003 it felt like a revelation. It launched Matt Damon into the Hollywood stratosphere and fundamentally changed the way action movies were made. Paul Greengrass took the mantle with two sequels (Supremacy and Ultimatum) and added his unique frenetic camera, pace and tone. The trilogy is an action classic, a repetitive yet dense romp through the European countryside as our favorite amnesiac is searching for a past full of moral rot.

Crude comedies are wonderful. Yes, they are a dime a dozen these days and have almost replaced the PG-13 romantic comedy romp but so be it. Those movies on the whole had become a dumpster fire of regret, peddling tired stereotypes and 1950’s gender tropes. Which is why I was excited to see Bad Moms – a movie with a terrible title and an A+ cast.