Keanue Reeves Played A Neo-Noir Superhero In The Enjoyable Constantine

DC Comics has struggled to get quite as many of its comic book characters to spawn big-screen franchises compared to their Marvel Comics counterpart (2010s Red was the first DC Comics adaptation that wasn't based on Superman, Batman or Swamp-Thing to spawn a sequel), but they've still got a bevy of memorable standalone movies to their name. Case in point: the 2005 Francis Lawrence directorial effort Constantine based on the comic book character of the same name. Though initially, it received mixed reviews and fanboy disdain for deviating from the comics, it's since garnered cult classic status and for very good reason.

Disobedience Upends Expectations In Welcome Ways

Ronit Krushka (Rachel Weisz) has been left out of the loop as to the goings-on of the London-based Orthodox Jewish congregation that raised her, which means she's taken completely by surprise when she receives word that her father, a rabbi, has passed away. She now returns home to say goodbye to her now deceased father, which means she must now deal with a congregation that is immensely distrustful of her given how she's not one to just kowtow to tradition. She also must face David Kuperman (Alessandro Nivola), who is now married to Esti (Rachel McAdams), a lady who harbors some personal romantic feelings for Ronit that our protagonist gladly reciprocates.

A Great Cast And Confident Directing Make The Brothers Bloom A Delight

The occasionally wacky humor of Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a surprise to many viewers of that space opera, but thinking on it, that sort of humor feels like trademark Rian Johnson, especially in regards to his 2009 feature The Brothers Bloom, which is chock full of stylized gags that feel heavily reminiscent of Monty Python or perhaps Wes Anderson. It takes a little while to get into the heavily ridiculous aesthetic of The Brothers Bloom, but taken as a whole, it's easy to see why Rian Johnson decided to go full-on silly since he's doing an extended homage to the caper subgenre with this project and that's a section of cinema that's well-known for its heightened tendencies.

The Fountain Is Amazingly Grand In Both Its Visuals And Emotional Power

There exist a recurring subgenre of more substantive and ambitious high-concept fantasy/science-fiction movies dedicated to using the stylized tendencies ingrained into their specific genres to explore larger-scale ideas about mortality, our place in the world, death, etc. Some of the best films in this subgenre include A Monster Calls, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Cloud Atlas as well as the subject of this review, Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, an absolutely beautiful motion picture that spans centuries and dances around the cosmos all in the name of an intimate tale depicting man's inability to cope with the looming prospect of death.

The Mummy Returns Is An Overstuffed But Mostly Diverting Follow-Up

Once The Mummy premiered in May 1999 to solid reviews and strong box office, well, we all know what was bound to come next....a sequel! Just as The Mummy had returned for four further adventures in the 1940's after the initial 1932 Mummy movie, Brendan Fraser and pals would also be coming back to the silver screen to fight more undead baddies in another motion picture. Per usual for typical summer blockbuster sequels, the scope and budget was enlarged, though, also like many summer blockbuster sequels, the results weren't exactly better than its predecessor despite a grander size in the production.

The Mummy (1999) Review

In the 19 year interm between the third and fourth Indiana Jones movies, we had a smattering of globe-trotting old-timey adventure movies looking to replicate the same financial success of o'l Indiana Jones. Most notably, we had the two National Treasure movies, the two Lara Croft features, Sahara, you get the picture. Also in the mix were probably the most financially successful features in this trend, the first two Stephen Sommers Mummy movies (there would be a third one in this series but it was released a little over two months after the fourth Indiana Jones movie), which updated the original Boris Karloff horror movie by adding larger-scale action and a lighter tone to the mix, which actually makes for quite the fun adventure.