Abi Damaris Corbin’s quiet feature debut, Breaking, is a movie that does everything Nick Cassavetes’s disaster John Q failed to do, making $71 million domestically in 2002. Of all the things Denzel Washington has saved in his movies (subways, jets, submarines, locomotive trains), holding up a hospital and forcing a doctor to perform life-saving surgery on his son was, by far, his worst. Unfortunately, Washington’s always-solid performance couldn’t save an absurd script based on a ridiculous premise. The based-on-a-true-story Breaking offers breakout performances by Corbin and the film’s lead, John Boyega (Detroit, The Woman King), most notably recognized for his role as Finn in the latest Star Wars movies.
Category Archives: Drama
Beast (2022)
What was that 2022-released movie about some terrifying, highly intelligent entity that identified and hunted its targets in a way that was anything but human? It might have been called Prey. Wait, maybe it was called Beast. Correct. Both movies (each with an equally unmemorable name) revolved loosely around the same premise. The studios of each movie didn’t do each other any favors with the release dates they could have set, if anything. Each film is worth a watch, though I wonder if a home viewing would translate to the enjoyment of a theater viewing. Each was designed to be seen on the largest screen possible.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
There is a moment between the previews and the opening credits of Top Gun: Maverick where Tom Cruise appears as himself, seated in a director’s chair, and welcomes the audience to the film. This is not the first time a film’s lead actor has welcomed an audience and thanked them for coming since the Coronavirus Pandemic began in March 2020. John Krasinski famously did this in the spring of 2021, before the much-delayed A Quiet Place Part II, arguably the biggest and most anticipated movie (with all due respect to Tenet) that returned to a wide-release audience.
Emily the Criminal (2022)
One of my life’s little joys is seeing a listing for a previously unheard-of movie playing at one of my local theaters when I’m scanning showtimes on a Friday as I plan my weekend. The promotional poster is often enough for me to click and learn more. I’m even more intrigued when there are high critic and audience scores. The promotional poster and the scores encourage me, if nothing else, to watch the trailer. That was what I did with John Patton Ford’s debut feature. It took just 30 seconds for me to stop the trailer. I was convinced. Emily the Criminal was a movie that I needed to see.
A Journal for Jordan (2021)
A Rotten Tomatoes 39% critics score and a 95% audience score. That seems about right for the optimistic yet somber, audience-pleasing A Journal for Jordan, Denzel Washington’s (Antwone Fisher, Fences) fourth directed movie and first collaboration with fan-favorite Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther). This movie felt flat and disjointed, yet I could easily understand the enjoyment some might feel if they were interested in watching an evolving love story. Unfortunately, this film would have been better suited as a made-for-television movie than a movie with aspirations of anything more.