A film that finds a logical reason for the police to shoot a show host on live television, and makes the reason for shooting said host to be for the host’s own good, is a film that is not entirely devoid of interest. MONEY MONSTER is such a film, and this is a good thing, because… Read More »
FULL FRONTAL
Some films expand your horizons, some shift your paradigm, some make your spirit soar with the possibilities inherent in the human condition and some are so awful that they make you question the existence of God. That last would apply to the 109 minutes of my life wasted at Steven Soderbergh’s latest, FULL FRONTAL.The question… Read More »
DUPLICITY
DUPLICITY is a smartly crafted, expertly acted, exquisitely directed exercise in smoke, mirrors, and greed. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, whose MICHAEL CLAYTON was a tale of corporate expediency and redemption, his new film returns to the world of corporate skullduggery with the same sharp character studies, the same resignation about people sinking to… Read More »
VALENTINE’S DAY
VALENTINE’S DAY is a mixed bag of genially unchallenging material designed to appeal to the widest possible audience without actively alienating anybody. It’s a formula that leaves little leeway for anything of a whiz bang nature. Using multiple story lines all loosely centered around a florist helps segregate the dreck from the more entertaining snippets,… Read More »
LARRY CROWNE
Somewhere in LARRY CROWNE, there is a darker, more robust film lurking. Fortunately, with director and co-writer Tom Hanks in the title role, rather than hopeless piffle, this lightweight bit of escapism almost takes on the grander trappings of an optimistic fable for our times. A slight one, to be sure, and certainly not one… Read More »
MIRROR, MIRROR
MIRROR, MIRROR is a lush and ravishing rethinking of the Snow White story with both an old-fashioned feel and a modern sensibility. Distinguished by an wickedly gleeful performance by Julia Roberts as the evil Queen despairing over her waning beauty, and that of Lily Collins as Snow White, her unwitting nemesis, which evokes both luscious… Read More »
MONA LISA SMILE
MONA LISA SMILE is what can diplomatically be called a safe film. Its full of lush cinematography that evokes a cloying sense of nostalgia for the early 1950s where the action takes place. There are the adorable outfits the almost all-girl cast wears. The soundtrack is full of pop standards calculated to set the mood… Read More »
ANT BULLY
It’s very hard not to read current events into the story of the animated kid’s film, ANT BULLY, but that has as much to do with its dissection of human psychology as it does with this animated film’s prescience. Based on the book by John Nickle, it takes a look at the bullying pecking order… Read More »
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
A spider that sucks the blood out of her victims is a tough sell as the sympathetic heroine of any story, much less one directed at kids. Yet, using the perfect blend of warmth and bite, and not a little humor, CHARLOTTE’S WEB has been doing that for over 40 years. A film version, such… Read More »
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR
Based on actual events, CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR tells the unlikely story of one even more unlikely man on a mission to make the world a better place. It’s a smart film, slickly done, with a disarming insouciance that belies the devastating political story it tells. Aaron Sorkin has taken the facts and with Mike Nichols… Read More »