And so, after a gap of over 13 years, James Cameron returns us to Pandora with an introduction that posits the most dangerous thing about that locale is that you may come to love her too much. Cameron is quite obviously smitten with his mythical planet whose inhabitants, the 8-foot-tall Na’avi, are more in tune… Read More »
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 »
INSURGENT Keeps the DIVERGENT Franchise Puffing Along
The advantage of seeing outstanding actors in a middling film is that you can appreciate just how good they are on a whole new level. And INSURGENT is certainly a middling film, though that is an improvement on the last installment in this franchise, DIVERGENT. With a new director, Robert Schwentke, bringing Veronica Roth’s YA… Read More »
LABOR DAY
LABOR DAY will leave you craving peach pie and your money back. Based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, it is a leaden piece of work whose excellent acting and evocative direction cant overcome a dicey beginning. Jason Reitman, he of JUNO, YOUNG ADULT, and UP IN THE AIR, directs from… Read More »
THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE
THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is a great idea for a movie. Unfortunately, its fine direction by Alan Parker and excellent acting from a cast headed by Kevin Spacey is undercut by a script that would, charitably, receive a C+ in Screenwriting 101 for Charles Randolph. How it made it to the big screen in… Read More »
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Check to see if Hell has frozen over, if there are flocks of pigs flying overhead, if theres a rip in the space/time continuum, because I’ve seen something that I was sure would never happen: Jim Carrey giving a mature, nuanced performance that is both genuinely affecting and deeply moving. That grail that he has… Read More »
FLUSHED AWAY
FLUSHED AWAY is the rude title of a sometimes rude film, but one that unswervingly hews to an ebullient sense of whimsy. Whimsy is its birthright, this being first-ever CGI Aardman effort, they of Wallace and Grommit fame. Fear not, it uses special software to deliberately include the sorts of imperfections that are inherent in… Read More »
THE HOLIDAY
Jude Law is glib. Cameron Diaz is perky. Kate Winslet is tragic in a perfect serio-comic way. They’re all gorgeous. And Jack Black, well, it’s hard to say what exactly he is doing in THE HOLIDAY as the object of Winslet’s eventual attraction. Writer/director Nancy Meyers certainly can’t be accused of typecasting by injecting Black,… Read More »