From his debut feature, PI, Darren Aronofsky’s work has never strayed far from the metaphysical. There was the overt Kabbalah that infused NOAH, and even REQUIEM FOR A DREAM was as much about the psychic destruction of souls as it was about any physical degradation of the protagonists. And so it is with MOTHER!, an… Read More »
RUN ALL NIGHT with Liam Neeson
There is a reason that there is a rigid formula for Liam Neeson action films: it has a tendency to hit more than it misses. In RUN ALL NIGHT, the tropes are all present and accounted for with the variations that are permitted within the formula’s rules. Neeson is the everyman with, you will pardon… Read More »
MAN ON A LEDGE
MAN ON A LEDGE is a not unworthy entry in the suspense/thriller subgenre dealing with an innocent man trying to prove his innocence. The innocent man is cop framed for a diamond theft. The ruse is to play bait-and-switch with the authorities who put him in prison. The execution is neither as lean nor as… Read More »
GRAVITY
Alfonso Cuarons GRAVITY is a masterpiece of both action and psychology. It is a film that sends its audience home with many things to ponder, and many lessons learned. It also sends that audience home with a whole new appreciation of air, and Im not sure thats an accident. So abundant here on the surface… Read More »
THE HOURS
THE HOURS begins with a suicide, a famous one at that. Virginia Woolf with a fierce deliberateness puts a heavy stone in her pocket and walks into a river. We see her head duck silently into the water and then her body floating delicately away, pulled by the current with a gentle urgency. By the… Read More »
RADIO
RADIO is a film that screams “Feel good film of the season” and, well it is. The nice thing about this warm and cozy film about a mentally challenged man finding acceptance with a high school football team is that it doesn’t try too hard. The score may be overwrought, but writer Mike Rich and director… Read More »
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS is a cutesy and inane follow-up to the only slightly less cutesy and inane NATIONAL TREASURE. The plot feels like it was cobbled together from the sort of random ideas tossed out during the wee hours of the morning during an all-night brainstorming session, ideas that seem like genius when… Read More »