Tag: Mads Mikkelsen

The narrow, orderly focus trips up ‘Chaos Walking’

Jeff Mitchell

Tom Holland is rightfully enjoying massive success in the movie biz these days. Hear!  Hear! Holland, 24, easily fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-man, but he’s not just a red-and-blue superhero.  He’s starred in other big-studio films, like “In the Heart of the Sea” (2015), “The Lost City of Z” (2016), “Onward” (2020), and “The Devil All the Time” (2020). His characters handle themselves just fine when saving humanity or diving into a one-on-one scrap, and his friendly bravado translates into real-life. Holland is a certified star, but no…

Mikkelsen carries the torch in ‘Arctic’

Jeff Mitchell

“Arctic” – Mads Mikkelsen’s character kneels on a narrow path of black rock and chips away at ice and snow with a pick and a serrated piece of sheet metal.  For anyone who has ever shoveled a driveway when the temperature hovers around zero, the opening scene of “Arctic” is a stressful reminder of Old Man Winter and his associated, compulsory chores. The difference between Overgard (Mikkelsen) and John Q. Public scrapping coagulated powder in the frozen suburbs of Minneapolis, Chicago, Buffalo, Toronto, Boston, and Spokane is the latter poor…

12 days of not-so-Christmassy Christmas movies: ‘The Hunt’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Hunt” (2013) – Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a 42-year-old kindergarten teacher, is coping with his divorce and trying to maintain a relationship with his teenage son, but Christmastime is here, so ’tis the season to think positively. His world, however, crashes, because someone does not accuse him of a serious crime, but a heinous one.  A crime he did not commit. Lucas, a respected man in the community, suddenly becomes the centerpiece of a devastating controversy, and in the process, almost everyone in this small Danish town demonizes him. His…