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Friday, March 20, 2015
Movie Reviews: The Gunman, An Honest Liar, Do You Believe?
Posted By Scott Renshaw on March 20, 2015, 7:47 AM
Sean Penn battling corporate malevolence in the Third World and a documentary about a magician battling paranormal frauds are among the new movies in Utah theaters this weekend.
Scott Renshaw finds a familiar lone badass narrative even more exhausting in The Gunman (pictured), with Sean Penn as an ex-assassin targeted by those trying to cover up their crimes. The creators of last year's Christian-themed hit God's Not Dead are back with Do You Believe?, a multi-story tale that buries its worthy notions of active faith under mountains of melodrama. The Italian drama Human Capital follows three people leading up to a single tragic accident, but the whodunnit is more interesting than the idea that there's anything new to say here about the human cost of greed. An Honest Liar—co-directed by Salt Lake City's Tyler Measom—presents a fascinating documentary portrait of celebrated magician, escape artist and "debunker" of charlatans James "The Amazing" Randi. And another intriguing character—legendary Russian hockey defenseman Slava Fetisov—anchors Red Army's solid look back at the dominance of the Soviet national hockey team throughout the 1980s.
In this week's feature review, Danny Bowes laments Insurgent abandoning the most successful elements of last year's Divergent to focus on the endless exposition and shallowly-conceived world-building.
Scott Renshaw finds a familiar lone badass narrative even more exhausting in The Gunman (pictured), with Sean Penn as an ex-assassin targeted by those trying to cover up their crimes. The creators of last year's Christian-themed hit God's Not Dead are back with Do You Believe?, a multi-story tale that buries its worthy notions of active faith under mountains of melodrama. The Italian drama Human Capital follows three people leading up to a single tragic accident, but the whodunnit is more interesting than the idea that there's anything new to say here about the human cost of greed. An Honest Liar—co-directed by Salt Lake City's Tyler Measom—presents a fascinating documentary portrait of celebrated magician, escape artist and "debunker" of charlatans James "The Amazing" Randi. And another intriguing character—legendary Russian hockey defenseman Slava Fetisov—anchors Red Army's solid look back at the dominance of the Soviet national hockey team throughout the 1980s.
In this week's feature review, Danny Bowes laments Insurgent abandoning the most successful elements of last year's Divergent to focus on the endless exposition and shallowly-conceived world-building.
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