As if we needed to be reminded of what a loss Alan Rickman’s death represents to cinema, we have his final speech in Gavin Hood’s incisive consideration of collateral damage and the ethics of warfare, EYE IN THE SKY.
A LITTLE CHAOS — A Little Too Little
A LITTLE CHAOS, not to be too precious about it, could have used a little more actual chaos. This handsomely executed historical drama is by turns ponderous and interesting, but interesting in a removed, unengaged fashion that renders the whole far less than the sum of its parts. Directed by co-star and co-writer Alan Rickman,… Read More »
BOTTLE SHOCK
BOTTLE SHOCK is a pleasant enough film well served by an excellent cast that amplifies the script’s virtues while minimizing its flaws. Based on the true story of a 1976 blind wine tasting that shook the world, it brings together a perfect storm of underdogs who, each hoping to prove something to themselves and to… Read More »
NOBEL SON
As with his last film, BOTTLE SHOCK, Randall Miller returns to the themes of father-son relationships in NOBEL SON. While the former was a sun-drenched idyll in the wine country of Napa Valley, arch but ultimately warm and fuzzy, the latter starts in the darker environs of human behavior and then gets seriously nasty and… Read More »
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2 begins with a bang and doesn’t stop. Starting right where the last film ended, it barely has time to catch its breath, or go into florid exposition, before diving right into the final face-off between the boy, now man, wizard (Daniel Radcliffe), embodiment of all that is… Read More »
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
First, the bad news. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, the fourth installment of the Potter tales, is the weakest film in the series so far. The good news is that it’s still a highly entertaining 2 1/2 hours, and one that effortlessly sweeps the audience into that enchanted world of Hogwarts School of… Read More »
PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
The first image in Tom Tykwer’s PERFUME is of a nose in close-up emerging from the twilight. The first sound is of its drawing a deep breath. It is stark, it is simple, and it is perfect. Smell is the point of this decadent gothic tale, and it is the driving force of the nose’s… Read More »