The opening credits for MAY DECEMBER play over a melodramatic score of insistent, skittery chords. Those chords will return, but at moments that to us seem banal, yet in the psyche of the December part of the cast, Gracie Yoo, played by the inimitable Julianne Moore, they signal a worldview not so much at odds… Read More »
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
It’s not that THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER is unwatchable. Quite the contrary. The special effects are stupendously unrestrained. The story is adorable, leaning towards a good-natured spoof of superhero movies as practiced in the 2020s. The performances can’t be faulted, even if Christian Bale as the god-hating ex-acolyte out for revenge is far darker, and… Read More »
JANE GOT A GUN
JANE GOT A GUN tries to evoke Leone (check the duster Jane sports) and Ford (check the mesas that surround her), but without the intensity of the former, or the adventure of the latter. What’s left is a stereopticon of a post-modern morality tale that can’t overcome its own inertia.
NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU
Second in the City of Love project that began with PARIS, JE TAIME, the ambition of NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU is to explore the many shades, moods, and delusions of attraction that are peculiar to that metropolis. While some could take place in any city where strangers collide in a haze of desire, and… Read More »
NO STRINGS ATTACHED
NO STRINGS ATTACHED is a sweet and sophisticated comedy that gently navigates the emotionally explosive no-mans-land of modern relationships. No rules, no cookie-cutter blueprints, its a scary place where the friends of those with the biggest questions are the ones who are the quickest to offer advice, and are also the ones with the least… Read More »
THOR
THOR is an exuberant blend of spectacle and fun. More in keeping with vintage Saturday morning movie serials than the fantasy and sci-fi blockbusters of more recent date, it is, nonetheless, not lacking in nifty special effects to showcase its stalwart heroes, black-hearted evil-doers, and the fine comic relief in the form of a slacker… Read More »
THOR: THE DARK WORLD
In THOR: THE DARK WORLD, there may be no suspense about how the latest nefarious plot to destroy the universe will turn out, but there are plenty of clever tricks along the way courtesy of the real star of the film, Thors trickster brother, Loki. Not that Thor, once again in the toothsome person of… Read More »
STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES
I suppose that it is theoretically possible for the latest installment of the STAR WARS saga, ATTACK OF THE CLONES, to have been worse than THE PHANTOM MENACE, but fortunately, we are spared the spectacle of what that might have been like. CLONES is certainly no masterpiece, but it is head, shoulders, and light saber better… Read More »
GARDEN STATE
Only rarely does a film as profound, as rich, and as deeply affecting as GARDEN STATE come along. Even more rarely is it the handiwork of a first-time filmmaker. That would be Zack Braff, known for his role as the philosophically harried intern on the subversively wicked comedy, Scrubs. Braff is Andrew Largeman, a struggling… Read More »
STAR WARS EPISODE III — REVENGE OF THE SITH
STAR WARS EPISODE III — REVENGE OF THE SITH is marginally better than its two predecessors. But to put that in the proper perspective, that’s like saying that typhoid fever is marginally better than the ebola virus. It is a difference without a meaningful distinction. The point of EPISODE III is to explore the specifics… Read More »