REVIEW: ‘Atomic Blonde’ is a neon-lit thermonuclear warhead, with a few frayed wires

A finely engineered watch figures prominently in the plot of Atomic Blonde. It’s loaded with some secret information that everyone in the movie wants to get their hands on. It’s tracked by operatives of MI6, the CIA, the KGB and the French DGSE. Whoever has the watch controls the fates of dozens, if not hundreds of spies in Cold War Europe. As the people of East and West Berlin take the final crucial steps towards reunification, a shadowy battle plays out over a single deadly timepiece.

Like the watch, the film is a collection of beautiful components. The craftsmanship behind every part is on full display: bold, fluorescent cinematography, calibrated performances, and a vicious one-take action scene for the ages. There’s an important flaw, though: Atomic Blonde puts all of this powerful material on display, but can’t seem to put it together correctly. It’s as though the pieces are grinding against each other, resetting the clock when the film should be ticking forward and building tension.

REVIEW: ‘Kong: Skull Island’ puts a lush coat of paint on a classic creature feature

Several decades ago, a movie like Kong: Skull Island would unashamedly be a true B-movie. It’s got a giant ape, a remote island full of monsters, and some good-looking people trying to escape. But in our current age of geeky properties getting blessed with $200 million budgets, it can be tricky to figure out what we’re getting with Skull Island. Is the movie too pretty, too well assembled and too stocked with talent (like Oscar winner Brie Larson) to embrace its grungy roots?

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