LUCE is less a film than a political dialectic on race and class in these United States, and a brilliant, exquisitely performed one at that. Told with a deliberate, sometimes maddening ambiguity, it challenges the audience at every turn about where the truth lies, and the limits of familial loyalty. By the end, not every… Read More »
THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT
As is the wont with these franchises based on young adult novels, THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT, the third in the series, begins where the last one left off. No flashback montage, no character narration bringing us up to date. Instead, there’s just a quick reminder that Jeanine is dead, and that everyone on screen is… 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 »
BIRDMAN or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
THE SHORT VERSION: One of the best films of the year.
INTERNATIONAL, THE
THE INTERNATIONAL is a convoluted film about a complicated subject. Certainly complicated best describes the ins and outs of international banking, a business that doesnt so much disrespect borders and politics as ignore them altogether as being just so much piffle in the grand scheme of things. Certainly the premise that debt rules the world,… Read More »
RING, THE
All that THE RING asks of us is to bide our time until the dynamite last 20 minutes or so, when all questions are answered, all patience is rewarded, and the preparations for the sequel can begin. For the other 95 minutes, we must watch an interesting premise made as bland and colorless as the rain-washed streets… Read More »
YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
Woody Allen revisits questions of ethics and morals as lived in the real world in YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER. His characters bounce and bobble their way through a world without answers, in which they attempt to seize happiness from the jaws of despair with varying degrees of success. The central question is… Read More »
DREAM HOUSE
There are fine moments in DREAM HOUSE, but not enough so that the easily parsed story and oddly soporific direction fail to become insurmountable hurdles. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz give performances that are visceral without being obvious, performances that amplify the sense of foreboding and suspense that should be coming from the… Read More »
ADORE
ADORE, adapted from Doris Lessing’s novel The Grandmothers, is a compelling, dangerous meditation on the stifling nature of convention, and the fluid nature of emotional bonding when societal norms are put aside. At the center are two lifelong friends, Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright), best friends since childhood. They are not, as the… Read More »
DIANA
DIANA, the unnecessary tale of the Princess of Wales last true love, is a vapid, banal, and superficial exercise in cheap voyeurism. The object of Dianas affections, heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan, is portrayed as a man who, above all, cherished his privacy and his profession, so much so that Dianas celebrity status made their… Read More »