Category: Film Reviews
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W. – Film Review
Oliver Stone’s latest film is W., a psychoanalytic vista of the life and first term of George W. Bush. Mr. Stone tones down both his filmic style and voice on this one. It’s not at all what you might expect considering the subject matter and Mr. Stone’s track record. W.…
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Burn After Reading – Film Review
I have to admit when I first saw the trailer for Burn After Reading, the latest offering from the Coen brothers, I was afraid. It looked like it might be another Intolerable Cruelty. I was still reeling from No Country for Old Men and was hoping for a similar outing.…
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Film Review
I’m a little late on this one, having missed it in the theater. I selected it on this very rainy day primarily on the Academy Award nominations of Casey Affleck for Best Supporting Actor and Roger Deakins for Best Cinematography. Neither won, but both efforts have been critically acclaimed. The…
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Man on Wire: Philippe Petit’s Emotional Triumph
Beautiful and mesmerizing. More like a caper film than a documentary. That’s how I’d describe Man on Wire, winner of the 2008 Oscar for Best Feature Documentary and the Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize for World Documentary. Director James Marsh set out to tell the story of Philippe Petit, the…
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Tell No One – Film Review
Tell No One introduces us to Alex Beck almost from the very first frame. He has a life one could envy. Fresh from medical school and ready to start his career as a pediatrician. He married his childhood love, enjoys a warm friendship circle, and seems genuinely happy. What could…
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The Dark Knight – Film Review
The Dark Knight is relentless at wanting to tell a very big story. Director and co-writer Christopher Nolan scrims the silver screen, then abruptly pulls it back, as if a grifter, conning us into a high stakes game of three-card Monte. Batman, played again by the chiseled Christian Bale, has…
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Hancock – Film Review
When I saw the trailer for Hancock a couple of weeks ago I thought to myself, “This is just another super hero, star vehicle of a movie.” Even though the trailer clearly delivered on communicating the “twist,” that Hancock was kind of a jerk, reluctant to help, and needed to…
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WALL-E – Film Review
WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is a friendly and extremely efficient robot that spends his days trying to tidy up a major mess left by the human inhabitants of earth. It seems that the Big-N-Large conglomerate, which owned everything and is the epitome of commercialism, made some mistakes along…
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Film Review
Heeeee’s Baaaaack. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is more of a marketing event than a picture. It’s as much about the filmmakers, Spielberg, Lucas and Ford, as it is the film. But then again those are the guys that made it. Going in I tried to…
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Under the Same Moon – Film Review
Patricia Riggen’s Under the Same Moon is a sweet and surprisingly powerful film that disguises a complex study of Mexican immigration within a simple story of a mother’s love for her son. Rosario (Kate Del Castillo) is a young mother without a husband. She crossed the boarder four years earlier…
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Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Film Review
Elizabeth the 1st has been endlessly studied from all angles. Historians, novelists, biographers and of course filmmakers. Arguably, no one knows as much about the psyche and behavior of Elizabeth than the academy award-winning actress Cate Blanchett. Playing her first in the 1998 film Elizabeth, and continuing her interpretation in…
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Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who – Film Review
It’s not that easy to find a theatrical release suitable for a 3 year old. But it was Good Friday, we weren’t working or schooling, and determined to go to the show. So we navigated our way through a spring snowstorm to see Hollywood’s latest attempt to bring a Dr.…
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Michael Clayton – Film Review
What struck me most about Michael Clayton is how all the players on this project came together as an ensemble, and took this film to a much higher level than might otherwise have been achieved. This is an extreme example of the whole being greater than the sum of its…
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Atonement – Film Review
Atonement is a classic British period film based on the critically acclaimed novel by the Booker Prize winning author Ian McEwain, and adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton. Set just as WWII is about to begin for Britain, the story pivots around two would-be lovers, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy),…
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There Will Be Blood – Film Review
Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest offering, There Will Be Blood, is a departure from his large ensemble works Boogie Nights and Magnolia. This muscular, tragic film was penned for the screen by Mr. Anderson, based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil. Pic opens at the very end of the 1800’s when America…
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National Treasure: Book of Secrets – Film Review
I know this is not one of those serious, adult dramas, but the National Treasure films are a kind of guilty pleasure; a welcome interlude from the more emotional, sophisticated pictures. I am fascinated with American history, having explored Washington, D.C. more than a dozen times. When I’m there I…
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I Am Legend – Film Review
If you’ve gotten this far you probably know that I Am Legend is a Vampire movie about the last man (almost) left alive on earth. It stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, a military scientist-type who has taken it on himself to find a cure and vaccine for a disease…
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No Country for Old Men – Film Review
Joel and Ethan Coen have a talent for hitting the audience right between the eyes (sorry). What an amazing body of work. Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, The Man Who Wasn’t There, O Brother, Where Art Though?, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and now No Country for Old Men. Yes…