Chris Klimek appears in the following:
Springsteen Concert Film 'Western Stars' Sheds No New Light
Thursday, October 24, 2019
The film dutifully captures the 14 songs from the Boss' latest album, but the half-hour of extra interstitial footage doesn't supply any new or meaningful context.
'Zombieland: Double Tap' Taps Into Nostalgia For Its Predecessor
Thursday, October 17, 2019
The in-jokes and callbacks come at you faster than the zombies do in this agreeable return to the world of the 2009 horror-comedy.
A Breezy Look At The Making Of A Blaxploitation Classic: 'Dolemite Is My Name'
Sunday, October 06, 2019
In this 'buoyant but slight' Netflix film, Eddie Murphy plays comic Rudy Ray Moore, who found blaxploitation stardom in the persona of the swaggering Dolemite.
'Ad Astra' Soars
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Distance — both interplanetary and emotional — is the subject of James Gray's "stirring sci-fi epic" that stars Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones.
Mawkish 'Blinded By The Light' Wears Its Too-Hungry Heart On Its Sleeve
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Film critic/Springsteen superfan Chris Klimek says Gurinder Chadha's film about a British-Pakistani kid who finds inspiration in The Boss's music is affected and cloying.
Better Stunts & Actors, Just As Derivative: 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw'
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
The "genial flexfest" of a spinoff is the "most agreeable" of the franchise, which once again slickly repackages set pieces from other, better, more innovative action films.
Tarantino's Turned-On, Tuned-In Tinseltown: 'Once Upon A Time In ... Hollywood'
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Call it peak Tarantino: The writer/director's ninth film — about a Manson-family-adjacent actor and his stuntman — is an ode to the grimy, neon-lit place and time that shaped him.
Collateral, Damaged: 'Stuber' Is A Tired Retread
Thursday, July 11, 2019
The latest summer action-comedy to attempt to satirize summer action-comedies by upping the violence, Stuber wastes its two charismatic leads in an unfunny riff on 2004's Collateral.
'Spider-Man: Far From Home,' But Still On Familiar Ground
Thursday, June 27, 2019
A charming cast, some fun twists, and the usual third-act bloat; Avengers may be over, but this "bright and buoyant" spider-sequel doesn't give you a chance to forget the Marvel formula.
In 'Shaft,' The Sex Machine Grinds Its Gears
Thursday, June 13, 2019
The sequel to the sequel to the classic 1971 blaxploitation film is fueled by gay-panic jokes and poorly staged, violence-is-the-answer set pieces.
You Won't Get Much Fire From 'Godzilla: King Of The Monsters'
Thursday, May 30, 2019
The sequel to the 2014 Godzilla finds two scientists and a bunch of monsters stranded in an undercooked story about an underdeveloped monster.
There Is No Spoon, But There's Plenty of Knives In 'John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum'
Thursday, May 16, 2019
The third installment of the Keanu-as-super-assassin series triples down on the gorgeously staged violence, but little things like his character's motivation get hopelessly muddled.
Blockbuster Films Keep Getting Longer; How And Why Did We Get Here?
Friday, April 26, 2019
Critic Chris Klimek crunches the numbers to examine how and why blockbuster films like Avengers: Endgame grew to such great, bladder-busting lengths.
'Hellboy': Hell, No
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Comics creator Mike Mignola's gruff demon-hero gets a hard-R reboot that swaps out the charm of director Guillermo del Toro's previous iterations and replaces it with "chaotic, repetitive" gore.
'Dumbo': Elephants Never Forget, But Audiences Will
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Tim Burton's take on the classic Disney animated feature does what it sets out to do in a kid-friendly, safe and unsurprising way devoid of the director's onetime idiosyncratic flair.
Teenage Wasteland: 'Alita: Battle Angel' Doesn't Quite Earn Its Wings
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Despite a surfeit of impressive talent behind and before the camera, and solid set-pieces, Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of a popular manga about a deadly teenage-ish robot feels thin, and dated.
Gina Rodriguez Kicks Butt And Takes Nombres In 'Miss Bala'
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Miss Bala invites comparisons to other, more effective films with similar butt-kicking protagonists, but as compelling, well-acted genre filmmaking, it succeeds.
'Serenity' Is All Wet. Literally.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
A perpetually sodden Matthew McConaughey plays a fishing-charter captain drawn into a murder plot in this soapy, dopey tale that turns into an unconvincing fish story.
'They Shall Not Grow Old': World War I Brought To Astonishing, Harrowing Life
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Peter Jackson's documentary, featuring expertly restored archival footage from the first World War, is "astonishing"; his "digital tools summon empathy, not spectacle."
'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Celebrates Inclusion
Saturday, December 22, 2018
The animated film argues that movies are better if you open them up to everyone. The movie says, "Anyone can wear the mask," and indeed, multiple characters do, including Miles Morales, the first Afro-Latino Spidey.