Film Review: “A House of Dynamite”

Bigelow’s thriller proposes a serious threat

Rebecca Ferguson calls for information in ‘A House of Dynamite.’

I’d like to assume that most people would not welcome a nuclear apocalypse, and would prefer that the few individuals with access to nuclear launch codes  avoid it at all costs. Writer/director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker; Zero Dark Thirty) apparently shares this assumption, though she has instilled her fears of a (not-too-distant) nuclear holocaust into her new thriller, A House of Dynamite. Taut and unnerving, A House of Dynamite attempts a realistic portrayal of a horrific “what if” scenario. Bigelow’s film doesn’t point fingers or attempt to push the needle of public opinion in a particular direction. Instead, Bigelow frames the film as a cautionary tale that exists simply as a visual representation of our deepest nuclear fears. Continue reading “Film Review: “A House of Dynamite””

Film Review: Detroit

Bigelow’s intense, harrowing film remains fiercely relevant

A city under siege: Detroit, July, 1967.

“It’s hard to believe this could happen in America,” a character says in Detroit, director Kathryn Bigelow’s grim but brilliantly effective new film about the 1967 Detroit riots and their aftermath. But for those of us watching exactly 50 years later, such believing is all too easy — and that’s perhaps the most disheartening take away from Bigelow’s gut-punch of a film.
Continue reading “Film Review: Detroit