For all of these reasons and more, we can be pleased and entertained that The Burial is here on Amazon Prime Video. Matching Lesson #2, it’s as stock and formulaic as it comes within the courtroom drama subgenre. Hot damn, that’s going to work every time. Within the formula, the heart and spine of the narrative will always be the two biggest ingredients. The backbone is a compelling case, and the beating pulse is the people embroiled in the affair.
Read MoreHere’s one word this writer never thought he would use to describe a Paul Greengrass-directed Jason Bourne film starring Matt Damon: FORMULAIC. After a tremendously successful trilogy (and not-so-successful spin-off) that had the right ending nine years ago, Greengrass and Damon were coaxed back into another cat-and-mouse spy game. Its rote construction and stakes that always feel like an arm-length away from stronger impact, “Jason Bourne” may be questionable enough to make us wonder if we’ve been seeing the same film four times now.
Read MoreWe men can’t resist a good western. On paper, the new film opening in Chicago this week, “The Homesman,” starring and directed by Tommy Lee Jones could sell tickets to us men just by his presence alone. His gruff persona is perfect for the genre in every way. The “guy film” potential and exterior stops there at Tommy Lee Jones. “The Homesman,” adapted from the novel of the same name from notable western writer Glendon Swarthout dives deeper, darker, and fervently towards a different perspective.
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