‘A House of Dynamite’ Review: Kathryn Bigelow’s Nuclear Thriller Is a High-Tension Potboiler With Pretensions

"A House of Dynamite," a countdown-to-nuclear-disaster thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is jacked up with so many overfamiliar MOR tropes of mainstream cinema that though it’s trying to be realistic about what it shows you (spoiler alert: It doesn’t really succeed at that), it still has the feel of a self-consciously jittery high-end cautionary potboiler. Don’t try this at home! Or in the White House Situation Room!