Abbas Kiarostami’s goal as a filmmaker was to make a film that took place entirely in a car. He got his wish with the wonderful TEN. Since then, we’ve been treated to other efforts confined to a single space that seem doomed by aren’t. Think Stephen Knight’s excellent drama, LOCKE, Ryan Reynold’s tour de force… Read More »
GANGSTER SQUAD
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but while GANGSTER SQUAD obviously admires Brian De Palmas THE UNTOUCHABLES, and tries very, very hard to be a variation on that classic, it does not have Mr. De Palma directing, nor does it have David Mamet writing the script. What it does have is a series… Read More »
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
There are perhaps more reasons to NOT do a remake of a classic film than reasons to do so, yet THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY is that rare and delightful example of why its only perhaps, not always. It is also a bold re-imagining of both the short story by James Thurber, and the… Read More »
THE INTERPRETER
My friend Daisy, an enthusiastic but discriminating cinema fan, has a way of summing up her movie-going experiences with a succinct take, and so it was as we exited the preview screening of THE INTERPRETER. It almost seemed, she opined, as though something was on the verge of happening. Alas, director Sydney Pollack’s lugubrious pacing… Read More »
ALL THE KING’S MEN
ALL THE KING’S MEN is so swept up in being an important and timely film that it somehow never quite gets around to being either, much less both. It’s the second film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, who took his inspiration and bit more from the life of Louisiana’s flamboyant… Read More »