“I think it’s a fun ride. It’s a great action film and a solid family drama. I think that’s a great entertainment combination.”
– Lin Oeding

The feature-length directorial debut for veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Lin Oeding (Straight Outta Compton, The Equalizer), the minimalist, existential thriller Braven is one heck of an entertaining ride.

The filmmakers manage to maintain a level of dramatic comedic absurdity throughout that’s both humorous and heartfelt, granting Freak Show an emotional resonance that’s somewhat surprising.

Yet, even at an epic 142 minutes, gosh darn it all if I didn’t still get a kick out of watching The Death Cure.

Yet tension exists, and terror continually follows it, everything building to a suitably violent and destructive climax that kept me moving forward in my seat eager to discover how things were going to turn out.

It can safely be said that predicting the nominees, let alone the eventual winners, of the 90th annual Academy Awards, is as difficult this year as it has ever been.

With the war in Afghanistan ongoing and no immediate end to the conflict in sight, the fact 12 Strong plays like nationalistic propaganda shouldn’t be surprising.

None of that matters because Den of Thieves is so brain dead, so filled with bad ideas and lame plot devices, that maintaining interest in what is going on and why, let alone caring about who is going to survive until the end, is practically impossible.

Neeson and Collet-Serra know what they’re doing and they’ve got the formula down pat. For fans of the pair, there are certainly far worse ways to spend a couple of hours. If anything, The Commuter sure beats getting stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home from work.