We Will Fight Them: Darkest Hour

By Pamela Zoslov

Darkest Hour chronicles the period following Winston Churchill's unlikely accession to UK Prime Minister in 1940 and his famous “We shall fight” radio address, a mere 48 hours later, stating that England would never compromise with or surrender to Hitler. The film was scripted by Anthony McCarten (who also wrote The Theory of Everything), for whom this episode in British history is a personal passion. The screenplay is adapted from a book McCarten wrote on the subject.

Gary Oldman, who is nearly as protean as Lon Chaney, is the umpteenth actor to portray “The British Bulldog.” Encased in masses of jowly makeup, Oldman persuasively affects Churchill's personality and mannerisms, or at least the way those are remembered through the unreliable prism of history. All that is recognizably Oldman are his eyes, which seem younger, and probably less bleary, than those of the prodigious drinker Churchill. (His daily alcohol intake was reportedly white wine with breakfast, champagne and brandy with lunch, two or three glasses of whiskey and soda in the afternoon, champagne and brandy with dinner, followed by more whiskey and soda.)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Review by Matt Finley

Precisely as powerful, and twice as fun as THE DARK KNIGHT, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is the best summer sequel in ages. Having admirably tackled most of the series’ clumsiest expositional burdens (that pesky ape-smartening, human-killing wonder drug) in 2011’s RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, joined here by THE WOLVERINE scribe Mark Bomback and director Matt Reeves (LET ME IN), are able to swing effortlessly into the post-ape-ocalyptic future, where a single gunshot fired by a cowardly plague survivor sets off a profound and devastating series of events, upsetting the tenuous balance between a human civilization in decline and the rising empire of the apes.

Robocop

Review by Pete Roche

I was barely old enough to catch Paul Verhoeven’s ROBOCOP in theatres back in 1987.  Shocking for its violence, the offbeat sci-fi flick was a surprise blockbuster and warranted frequent rental on VHS in my neck of the woods.

It took a while to appreciate the Dutch director’s dark satire.  Yes, the movie was true to Edward Neumeier’s story of a human policeman turned into a technological crime-fighting machine—but Verhoeven was also concerned with what it meant to be human in a dystopia where corrupt corporations make backroom deals with crooked politicians and constituent / consumers numb themselves with narcotics and schlock television.

The Dark Knight Rises

Review by Pete Roche

It’s been four years since we last saw Batman.  But it’s been twice as long for Gotham, whose police force chased their would-be savior into hiding at the end of 2008’s THE DARK KNIGHT.

Harvey Dent has been eulogized (and practically canonized).  The dead district attorney—whom everyone thinks was killed by “vigilante” Batman—even has his own holiday of sorts.  The anti-crime legislation he enacted has kept mobsters and murders behind bars for eight years. 

But maintaining Dent’s untarnished reputation has taken a toll on the men who know the truth behind Two-Face’s own crime spree, Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and trust fund kid-turned caped crusader Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale).