Actions films do not need to be dumb. Blowing up an entire caravan or imploding a city block is all good fun, but doing only that without providing anything deeper does not engage the audiences on more than one level. Sicario is a different sort of action film; one that both raises the body count and asks the audience to …

While I was watching Self/less, the word that kept popping into my mind was “messy.” It is a messy film, with many points of interest, multiple sources for character motivation, and frantic sways between emotion and action. Even with all of these competing elements, the film generally works. Directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell, Mirror Mirror, amongst other …