Sam Elliot is the definition of laconic. As an actor, he is a man who feels deeply, but keeps those emotions in tight check, yet transmitting them to the audience with clarity and an authenticity that is riveting. His only flaw is that he makes it look almost too easy, until the moment when the… Read More »
WAKEFIELD
It was not pre-meditated, Howard Wakefield’s snap decision to remove himself from his family. As he explains to us in the ongoing narration of WAKEFIELD, rather it was an accumulation of minor discontents culminating in a particularly bad commute and a raccoon with a disconcerting assertion of proprietary rights. Thus begins an existential consideration of… Read More »
MEN WITH GUNS
Is ignorance a sin? John Sayles ponders that in MEN WITH GUNS.
ALIEN: COVENANT
ALIEN COVENANT is a mixed bag. As a horror movie, it is unimpeachable, adding an extra self-refractive layer of pleasure to an audience that knows exactly what is lurking there in the giant deserted spaceship that our intrepid space colonists discover. As a vehicle for advancing the meta-story of the Alien franchise, it is far… Read More »
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. II
When GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY blazed into theaters a few years back, it set a high standard for effects-laden sci-fi played for laughs. Volume II has now blazed into theaters, but that standard has not quite been met. This sequel drifts a bit into maudlin sentimentality that has no place in this particular universe, even… Read More »
TWENTY TWENTY-FOUR
You could, if so inclined, sit back and enjoy Richard Mundy’s counterintuitively dynamic film, TWENTY TWENTY- FOUR, merely as an engrossing study of a loner going slowly mad in isolation. As the difference between reality and madness builds to a fever pitch, the mystery of what exactly is happening in Roy’s underground bunker matches the… Read More »
THE CIRCLE
It is possible that those years of my wayward youth spent toiling in the Valley of Silicon have colored my view of THE CIRCLE. The, at least to me, mundane observations about that particular corporate culture fall with a resounding thud as we see the way work and personal life intermingle, with everything one could… Read More »
TOMMY’S HONOUR
TOMMY’S HONOUR, about the beginnings of modern golf and the young man responsible for that, unfolds with the same stately grace of that game. It’s an admirable effort, rather than one that will get the adrenaline pumping, with fine performances, albeit ones that seem muted amid the prevailing decorum of 19th-century Britain. It was a… Read More »
THE LOST CITY OF Z
THE LOST CITY OF Z opens in the darkness of the jungle. Natives stand in silhouette outlined against fires burning in warning or in welcome. It’s a fitting start to James Gray’s suitably literate adaptation of David Grann’s book of the same name, telling the true story of the obsessions that drove British Major Percy… Read More »
THE OTTOMAN LIEUTENTANT
THE OTTOMAN LIEUTENANT is a slight but eminently humane story, lushly filmed, and richly romantic. It follows the classic tropes of the romance genre, enhanced with nuanced performances that elevate what might otherwise be stock characters in a plot with few surprises. The biggest surprise being that it is so satisfying as entertainment, and as… Read More »
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