Category: Film Reviews
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Film Review
It took me until about the third reel to fully appreciate Rooney Mara’s acidic portrayal of Lisbeth Salander. Ms. Mara inhabits the character with fearsome angst, throwing herself into the darkness of Lisbeth’s world. Literally, she has peered into the precipice to manifest this character. I hope she comes back.…
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Hugo (3D) – Film Review
I had given up hope that Martin Scorsese would ever make a picture aimed at all ages. With his love of film and unsurpassed knowledge of the art form, I felt he was a natural. But with New York as your muse, there are more serious matters to attend to.…
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My Oscar Picks for 2011
This Sunday, February 27, 2011 will be the 83rd annual Oscar awards presentation. An art form with a storied past, and I believe a bright future. Although India churns out many more pictures than the U.S. each year, the art of the film and the studio are uniquely American. I’m…
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The King’s Speech – Film Review
British drama is the ultimate tautological. They are forever and permanently linked. And despite the discomfort this has caused millions of Brits over the centuries, it has yielded some extremely good works of cinema for us to enjoy and examine. So all is not for naught. This year we are…
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True Grit – Film Review
The Coens open True Grit at night with a slow zoom in on a slain man lying just off a softly lit porch, being blanketed by snowfall. The voice-over is Mattie Ross, speaking to the audience from nearly three decades in the future. She describes how her father was shot…
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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – Film Review
It has been said that finance is the art of passing money from person to person until it vanishes. That seems a bit harsh. But looking back over the events of the last two years, one is tempted to think this might actually be true. A third certainty taking it’s…
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Inception – Film Review
The firm I work for is now one of those companies that advertises prior to the feature movie in the multiplex (sorry, I hate those commercials more than you do). In appreciation, the media group that sold us the space arranged a free screening of Inception as a thank you.…
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Crazy Heart – Film Review
“I’ve been drunk most of my life.” These words are spoken by Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) late in the deep, dark character study that is Crazy Heart. Mr. Bridges maintains a quiet but disturbing intensity throughout the film in the lead role as an accomplished country singer-songwriter who is past…
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Me and Orson Welles – Film Review
I have been fascinated with Orson Welles since I was a boy. I had heard the recording of his famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast at an early age, and one of the first films I remember thinking hard about was Citizen Kane. Genuine prodigies, which is how I…
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Up in the Air – Film Review
I wondered how a film where the main character’s job is to fire employees for firms that are looking to downsize is getting so much attention in this economic climate. My guess is the filmmakers frequently debated how they would position and portray those difficult “letting workers go” scenes and…
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Avatar – Film Review
Avatar is in a word, ASTONISHING. Many aspects of the storytelling are familiar but the way in which James Cameron unfolds the story is, in every respect, entirely new. He has has kept his formidable storytelling skills but this time wrapped them in an imaginative presentation layer unlike anything you…
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A Serious Man – Film Review
Walking into a Coen Brother’s film is a bit like going to a therapist for two hours but not knowing what neurosis you will be treated for. The only thing you can be sure of is there will be some messin’ with your head. That is at once the charm…
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Moon – Film Review
The classic science fiction drama has been all but dead for nearly a decade. Thoughtful, provocative storytelling of another place in time and space is a rarity in today’s U.S. cinema. The last one that comes to mind was Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris, and it was based on the novel by…
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Up – Film Review
What is the definition of story? My answer is “conflict.” Great stories unfold against a backdrop of tension and combine reality and fantasy. Pixar Animation Studios has mastered this formula for kids and grown-ups alike. Their latest work, Up, tracks the life of Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) from the time…
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Monsters vs. Aliens – Film Review
A snowy, spring day in Chicago seems like a perfect time to catch a flick. Have been waiting anxiously for the Dreamworks Animation production of Monsters vs. Aliens since I read about it over a year ago. Maybe it was the fact that my expectations were too high, but I…
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Sunshine Cleaning – Film Review
Spring is typically drought time for Holllywood. It’s post-Oscar so studios are trying to squeeze as much out of their winners as possible, and pre-summertime, when the majority of box office is earned. So if you find yourself with a few free hours on your hands you probably don’t…
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The Reader – Film Review
The Reader is a grave, intellectual odyssey of shame and awakening set in post WWII Berlin. At the outset is the story of a young boy, Michael Berg (David Kross) who has a chance meeting with a much older woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). Michael is ill and Hanna comforts…
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Frost/Nixon – Film Review
On the first day of government class as a freshman in college, my professor entered the room pushing a television on a small cart and carrying a stack of magazines. He introduced himself and said that if anyone had not yet purchased the textbook to save their money. For those…
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Slumdog Millionaire – Film Review
Update: Slumdog Millionaire nominated for 10 Academy Awards! Go to official Oscar site here. I settled into my seat in the Landmark Renaissance Place Cinema in Highland Park, Illinois expecting to see an interesting film set in India. I knew it was the story of an indigent young man from…