In Devil’s Due, co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (V/H/S) and first-time screenwriter Lindsay Devlin offer an uninspired found-footage riff on Roman Polanski’s demon-spawn classic, Rosemary’s Baby (1968). On their Dominican Republic honeymoon, the squeakily innocent Samantha (Allison Miller) and Zach (Zach Gilford) are drugged by a cult who draw…
Oscar Isaac, the Miami-raised star of Inside Llewyn Davis, has already had a dizzyingly successful year. His awkward, often off-putting performance in the Coen brothers’ film has earned him a Golden Globe nomination and rave reviews from pretty much every film critic in the country. But that wasn’t enough to…
This morning, this year’s Oscar nominations will be announced, also known as national Gah! What Were Those Idiot Voters Thinking Day. We can’t wait, so in the meantime, we give you this: 1. Marvel Films has become Taco Bell, with plenty of sour creamy, cheesy wrap-up menu items scheduled through…
A tale of love complicated — if not thwarted — by prior responsibilities, intractable barriers, and the rigid high-society norms that frustrate its Victorian characters’ attempts to live as they so desperately want, The Invisible Woman finds Ralph Fiennes proving as adept behind the camera as he is in front…
“You are the man?” a crook asks Ice Cube as the cop comedy Ride Along opens. “I am the man!” Cube insists. You can’t blame him for being defensive. Now a 44-year-old father of five, Cube is three decades away from the furious teenager who cofounded NWA his senior year…
January! Just the time to snuggle up with a 3-D sword-and-pectoral extravaganza. And although some of its more imaginative plot details would make Edith Hamilton blanch, Renny Harlin’s The Legend of Hercules fulfills every silly, flimsy promise it makes in the first place: There are lots of battles (though rather…
Russians still make the best movie villains. Since 9/11, Hollywood has been queasy about giving us fictional baddies from Arab countries — the line between cheap stereotypes and real-life religious extremism is too blurry, too delicate. South American drug lords have had their day, and Albanians in bad sweaters just…
Despite some reluctance, Wes Craven is a name-brand filmmaker. The phrase “Wes Craven Presents” comes with certain expectations thanks to the financial success of the Scream franchise and The Hills Have Eyes series before that. But what cemented Craven’s reputation is A Nightmare on Elm Street, a deathless cycle of…
“This is Orlando. You go big, or you go back to Kissimmee.” Uh oh, Adriana de Moura. Watch your back, Elsa Patton. There’s a new posse of rich women behaving badly in Florida. And these ones have the advantage of actually being trained for television. The Hotwives of Orlando, a…
In this age of live-streaming and waning movie theater audiences, plenty of films are skipping theatrical releases and heading straight for Video on Demand (VOD). Unlike in years past, this doesn’t make them any less worthwhile. In fact, some familiar faces use VOD movies to shine and really show off…
Will Tom Hiddleston bring his sweet dance moves to Miami this year? It’s a little more likely now that the Miami International Film Festival has announced a sneak peek of its 2014 lineup of films. Hiddleston is one of a handful of stars due to hit screens around town when…
The Miami Jewish Film Festival doesn’t officially launch its 2014 series until Jan. 23. But last Saturday, the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education hosted a special preview of Walking with the Enemy, which will open nationally on April 25th. Inspired by a true story that you’ve probably never…
Last summer, Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara, and Robert Downey, Jr. started popping up in some strange Miami locales: Little Havana’s Hoy Como Ayer, for example, and the lobby and valet areas of the Fontainebleau. Video cameras — and droves of surprised local fans — followed them everywhere. It was all…
For the first time in ten years, the Miami Jewish Film Festival has a new director, and though opening night for the 17th Annual MJFF has yet to arrive, Igor Shteyrenberg has wasted no time in holding screenings. Since he accepted the job in July of 2013, Shteyrenberg has hosted…
The stars were out in Miami Tuesday night for the red carpet premiere of Ride Along, a new buddy cop movie starring Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and John Leguizamo that opens next weekend. Specifically, the stars were out on the second floor of the Regal South Beach cinema, over by…
So many ideas in our country begin with the best of intentions and end up completely corrupted. From Lindsay Lohan’s acting career to the once-noble filibuster, well-meaning stuff sometimes just gets out of hand here. But has it caught up with Kickstarter, too? Launched in 2009, this crowd-funding platform seemed,…
Without big truth-telling scenes, grand, great-lady, Meryl Streep-type actors would be out of work. Hell, Meryl Streep would be out of work. But for now, at least, August: Osage County, John Wells’ film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway hit, keeps her out of the bread line. Streep plays…
Here’s a movie that’ll flop in Kabul. Lone Survivor, the latest by Battleship director Peter Berg, is a jingoistic snuff film about a Navy SEAL squadron outgunned by the Taliban in the mountainous Kunar province. After four soldiers — played with muscles and machismo by Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile…
The terrible reality of modern life is that even beautiful young people on a first date can’t go a whole evening without checking their phones. We need to be potentially connected to every possibility at all times; just allowing the present to happen has become increasingly foreign. That’s the idea…
So many ideas in our country begin with the best of intentions and end up completely corrupted. From Lindsay Lohan’s acting career to the once-noble filibuster, well-meaning stuff sometimes just gets out of hand here. But has it caught up with Kickstarter, too? Launched in 2009, this crowd-funding platform seemed,…
Nowadays, the most compelling stories play out across a whole host of platforms. Think back on Amanda Bynes’ epic meltdown. It wouldn’t have been half as interesting if it hadn’t unfolded on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook (you know you wish you could work out like her) and everywhere else imaginable. And…
By the time Cultist gets its 15 minutes on the phone with Australian actress Margot Robbie, she admits to having lost count of how many interviews she has done that day regarding her high-profile role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. “We’re probably in our 30s or something,”…
