There’s a certain pleasure in seeing a familiar job done well with a slightly new mix of tools, and that’s just what “Safe House” is. There’s not much new about this CIA double-cross story, but the setting, actors, cinematography, and story details are a new combination, and it’s enjoyable watching familiar gears mesh and turn in the new setup.
Read more →
Hammer Productions was synonymous with horror movies once upon a time. The brought us “The Horror of Dracula,” “Twins of Terror,” “The Devil Rides Out,” and scores of others. They’ve made a comeback in recent years, bringing us “Let Me In,” “Wake Wood,” and “The Resident.” Now, with “The Woman in Black,” they bring us a classic ghost tale sure to please fans of films like “The Others” and “The Orphanage.”
Read more →
“One for the Money” seemes to be getting treated like a red-headed stepchild by its production companies — preview screenings for critics were delayed or simply not held, and although it’s a light-hearted action comedy, it’s being released in the no-man’s-land cinematic tundra of late January. It’s a shame, because this charming little film is a lot of fun.
Read more →
There’s a lot to like in Steven Soderbergh’s new film, “Haywire,” but there’s a lot that doesn’t quite come together. The director is reportedly planning to take a sabbatical once his currently in-progress films are wrapped, to get a fresh start, and it’s easy to interpret the uneven pacing and cinematography in “Haywire” as him reaching for something fresh. The film is still enjoyable, particularly during the fight scenes.
Read more →
“Carnage” is being billed as “a comedy of no manners,” and that’s it in a nutshell. When one boy hits another in the face with a stick, knocking out two of his teeth, the boys’ parents meet to discuss the situation. The victim’s parents, community-building Penelope (Jodie Foster) and blue-collar Michael (John C. Reilly), invite the stick-weilder’s parents, brittle Nancy (Kate Winslet) and boorish Alan (Christoph Waltz) over for what should be an awkward but straightforward conversation. Before long, it devolves into a four-way screaming match.
Read more →
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen
Rated: R for sexual content and brief language
The birth of psychoanalysis was as painful and difficult as most births seem to be — but it involved several people rather than one surrounded by midwives and caretakers. The fraught relationships between Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, and Sabina Spielrein pushed and pulled the science into the complex, widely-differing field we know today. Based on the nonfiction book by John Kerr, “A Dangerous Method” is a dramatization of the early years of psychoanalysis.
Read more →And we’re off! I’ve imported all of my movie reviews and started the long process of tagging and formatting them all properly. Soon(ish) to come: My honors and Masters theses, fiction, and columns/essays from the past. High excitement!
Read more →
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciaran Hinds, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch
Rated: R for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language
It’s rare to see a film with the courage to be as slow and quiet as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is, but director Tomas Alfredson is no stranger to cinematic bravery — he directed the original Swedish “Let The Right One In,” which was at its heart a love story between an androgynous vampire and a bullied preteen. He handles this adaptation of John le Carre’s famous Cold War spy novel with a delicate touch, like a painter creating an enormous image one dot at a time.
Read more →
Directed by: Tarsem Singh
Starring: Henry Cavil, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Frieda Pinto
Rated: R for sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality
“300″ has a lot to answer for. Since the success of the film based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel, we are seeing more and more flicks set in classical/mythological Greece and its surroundings — flicks which don’t bother with realism, logic, respect for history (or mythology!), or quality in any aspect beyond the comic-book-inspired tableau. “Immortals” is the latest of these, and follows right smack in the footsteps of its entertainment-oriented forbears.
Read more →
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Judy Dench, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts
Rated: R for brief strong language
J. Edgar Hoover was the face of the FBI for decades, the man who fought against gangsters, kidnappers, and bank robbers, who gave us the FBI as we know it today. “J. Edgar” is an awkward, uncomfortable film profiling this often awkward, uncomfortable man. Eastwood is a gifted director, and here he works with gifted actors to create a thoughtful, thorough character study.
Read more →
Written and Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy
Rated: PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and partial nudity, and strong language
“In Time” begins with one of the more honest voiceovers I’ve heard: our hero tells us he doesn’t have time to explain the science behind the foundation of his world, so he’ll just say how things are. With a premise as impossible as this, it’s far more respectful to your audience to simply gloss over the science rather than trying to explain it.
Read more →
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of adventure action violence
It seems to be a requirement for Hollywood to make a film based on “The Three Musketeers” at least once every twenty years, preferably saturated with whatever is currently in vogue. So, back in 1993 we had Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Oliver Platt as the titular friends, and the whole thing was very bright and shiny and silly. Now we have Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans, and Ray Stevenson, and there’s lots of slow-mo martial artsy awesomeness, some snark about governmental budget cuts, and steampunk airships.
Read more →