John le Carré writes espionage stories in which the action is cerebral and the suspense comes from a keen observation of each protagonist’s character. Thus, the stakes in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR involve much more than the list of names that will topple those in power. They involve the people caught up in the intrigue… Read More »
EYE IN THE SKY
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.
THE STATEMENT
Conspiracy buffs will enjoy THE STATEMENT more than just about any other sort of moviegoer. For the rest of us, this story about a Frenchman who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II fails as the thriller that the filmmakers may have had in mind. It is, rather, more along the lines of a… Read More »
BOBBY JONES, STROKE OF GENIUS
BOBBY JONES, STROKE OF GENIUS is not so much a film as a sermon conceived as a series of lessons designed for moral improvement and delivered by rote by a preacher who long ago exchanged enthusiasm for boredom with the subject matter. It is, I suppose, good for you on some level, in much the… Read More »
THE INVASION
The original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was the product of a particular time, place, and mentality. Those would be the 50s, the United States, and the paranoia rampant at the time over the Communist Menace. Or the 50s, the United States, and the suffocation of conformity. Either way, it was a potent message at… Read More »
THE TUDORS — THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
There is a cautionary lesson within THE TUDORS, the vibrant, lush, and suitably visceral mini-series depicting the life, loves, and politics of England’s Henry VIII. Henry, played with frank carnality by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, fancies himself a humanist, the fashionable thing to be during the Renaissance. Under the tutelage of Thomas More, soon to be… Read More »