Reviews — In Reel Deep

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1'

Building tension for the grand finale comes at the expense of a truly standalone tale.

Action and Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonDecember 1, 2014Donald Sutherland, elizabeth banks, Francis Lawrence, Jeffrey Wright, jennifer lawrence, julianne moore, liam hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hofffman, stanley tucci, woody harrelson

'RoboCop'

With pointed, relevant themes, the RoboCop remake manages to be one of the rare few that doesn't feel superfluous.

Action and Adventure, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonNovember 30, 2014Abbie Cornish, gary oldman, Jackie Earle Haley, jay baruchel, joel kinnaman, Jose Padilha, Michael K- Williams, Michael Keaton, samuel l- jackson

'Interstellar'

Christopher Nolan's latest has serious flaws, but it also has a heart and a soul that redeems it.

Action and Adventure, Drama, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonNovember 11, 2014anne hathaway, Bill Irwin, casey affleck, christopher nolan, David Gyasi, Ellen Burstyn, jessica chastain, john lithgow, matt damon, Matthew McCounaghey, michael caine, Topher Grace, wes bentley

'Godzilla'

Gareth Edwards establishes himself as one to watch, but doesn't quite achieve greatness.

Action and Adventure, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonOctober 30, 2014aaron taylor-johnson, bryan cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Gareth Edwards, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe, sally hawkins

'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

The stale Spider-Man franchise goes from bad to worse in its latest entry.

Action and Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonSeptember 11, 2014andrew garfield, dane dehaan, denis leary, emma stone, jamie foxx, Marc Webb, paul giamatti, sally field

'Transcendence'

Balance big ideas against big flaws before rushing out to see Transcendence.

Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonSeptember 2, 2014Cillian Murphy, Johnny Depp, Kate Mara, morgan freeman, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall, Wally Pfister

'Snowpiercer'

Director Bong Joon-Ho's sci-fi thriller isn't perfect, but is wonderfully original.

Action and Adventure, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonJuly 15, 2014allison pill, Bong Joon-Ho, chris evans, ed harris, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Ko Ah-Sung, Olivia Spencer, Song Kan-Ho, Tilda Swinton

Review: 'Edge of Tomorrow'

A science-fiction movie about a soldier who repeats the same day over and over? Edge of Tomorrow should be awful, but Tom Cruise and Doug Liman have magically produced a minor gem.

Reviews, Science FictionSteve CiminoJuly 11, 2014Doug Liman, Edge of Tomorrow, emily blunt, tom cruise

Review: 'Under the Skin'

Jonathan Glazer relies on beautiful camera work, a truly unsettling score and Scarlett Johansson's brilliance to produce a highly stylized masterpiece.

Reviews, Science FictionSteve CiminoMay 6, 2014Jonathan Glazer, Scarlett Johansson

'Elysium'

Director Neill Blomkamp's follow-up to District 9 has its strengths, but also its weaknesses.

Action and Adventure, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonJanuary 11, 2014Alice Braga, diego luna, jodie foster, matt damon, Neill Blomkamp, sharlto copley, Wagner Moura, William Fichtner

'Her'

A silly premise turns in to a seriously excellent movie from writer-director Spike Jonze.

Drama, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonDecember 30, 2013amy adams, chris pratt, joaquin phoenix, rooney mara, Scarlett Johansson, spike jonze

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'

Jennifer Lawrence takes The Hunger Games to a place it almost doesn't deserve to go.

'Ender's Game'

A messy second half spoils this highly anticipated film adaptation of a beloved sci-fi novel.

Action and Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonNovember 24, 2013abigail breslin, aramis knight, asa butterfield, ben kingsley, gavin hood, hailee stanfield, harrison ford, moises arias, orson scott card, viola davis

'Thor: The Dark World'

Marvel's hypnotic spell isn't lifted despite the flaws of the newest Thor installment.

Action and Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonNovember 15, 2013Anthony Hopkins, chris eccleston, chris hemsworth, idris elba, kat dennings, natalie portman, ray stevenson, Rene Russo, stellan skarsgard, Tom Hiddleston, Zachary Levi

'Europa Report'

Gravity might doom it to the dustbin of history, but Europa Report is worth your time.

Action and Adventure, Drama, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonNovember 2, 2013Anamaria Marinca, Christian Camargo, dan fogler, Daniel Wu, embeth davidtz, Isiah Whitlock Jr-, Karolina Wydra, michael nyqvist, sebastian cordero, sharlto copley

'Gravity'

'Tis a gift to be simple in director Alfonso Cuaron's first feature film since 2006.

Action and Adventure, Drama, Genres, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonOctober 9, 2013alfonso cuaron, ed harris, george clooney, paul sharma, sandra bullock, steven price

'Oblivion'

The sci-fi inspirations are clear and compelling, but Oblivion could have offered a bit more.

Action and Adventure, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonAugust 29, 2013andrea riseborough, joseph kosinski, melissa leo, morgan freeman, nikolaj coster-waldau, olga kurylenko, tom cruise

'The World's End'

It's not the best entry in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, but it's still worth your time.

Comedy, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonAugust 29, 2013eddie marsan, edgar wright, martin freeman, Nick Frost, paddy considine, simon pegg

'Star Trek Into Darkness'

J.J. Abrams has injected a great deal of fun in to Star Trek. Whether that's too much of a good thing is another question for movie fans to answer.

Action and Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonJune 7, 2013anton yelchin, benedict cumberbatch, chris pine, j-j- abrams, john cho, karl urban, simon pegg, zachary quinto, zoe saldana

'Iron Man 3'

It's as clean and crisp as any of Marvel's movies, but does Tony Stark's latest adventure have any depth?

Action and Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionAndrew JohnsonMay 7, 2013ben kingsley, don cheadle, guy pearce, gwyenth paltrow, marvel studios, robert downey jr, shane black