Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) – Alejandro G. Inarritu

Micheal Keaton shines in Alejandro Innarritu’s Birdman. He brings a level to his performance that you know is based on personal experience, and delivers an Oscar-nominated virtuoso performance as Riggan Thompson, an actor who walked away from a billion dollar superhero franchise and is now worried about his relevance while being haunted by his past….

La La Land (2016) – Damien Chazelle

From its opening, marrying classical screen musical tropes and modern times, Chazelle’s film proves that not only is the big screen musical still alive, it is in fact a vibrant event. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as two Hollywood dreamers, Mia and Sebastian. She’s an aspiring actress, he’s a jazz pianist who dreams of…

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) – Mark Webb

  The Web-Head, Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) is back in his most recent appearance which I take a look at today for the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Mark Webb returns as director, Emma Stone returns as Gwen, Sally Field is Aunt May, and this time around spidey-senses are tingling when OsCorp seems to be behind all the…

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

  There are no surprises in the new Marvel/Sony reboot of our favorite wall-crawler when he returns to the big screen this summer in The Amazing Spider-Man. What Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer), the director does do is craft a solid summer blockbuster that will reinvigorate Sony’s tent pole franchise, and keep this little slice of…