It is a suitably perverse twist that the only person who has the clearest idea of what’s she is doing in the Coen Brothers latest offering, BURN AFTER READING, is Linda Litzke, the inadvertent femme fatale of the piece played by the miraculous Frances McDormand. Not the CIA operatives, not the Treasury Department guy, not… Read More »
RIGHTEOUS KILL
The best performance in RIGHTEOUS KILL is not given by either of its storied leads, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. It’s not given by the solid supporting cast of Donnie Wahlberg, John Leguizamo, Carla Gugino, and Brian Dennehey, who all add a raffish interest while still seeming to pull their punches in an attempt… Read More »
FROZEN RIVER
Two women driving in the snow in the dead of a winter night slip from the shoreline onto the broad, imposing expanse of a frozen lake. Itâs not the action of people who have any choice in the matter and in FROZEN RIVER, the reasons for this action are spelled out with a quiet intensity… Read More »
THE WOMEN
Some films are very much the product of a particular time. They reflect the sensibilities, the anxieties, and the dreams of that time and of no other. The remake of THE WOMEN is that kind of film. Unfortunately the zeitgeist it represents is that of the early 1970s, attempts at snappy dialogue hearkening back to… Read More »
IGOR
IGOR is a charming bit of gothic whimsy that makes up with a sweet-tart brand of light irony what it lacks in surprises. It may not be the most original plot, but for riffing so expertly on classic horror flicks, and for plumbing the depths of horror to be found in the relentless perkiness of… Read More »
GHOST TOWN
GHOST TOWN is a film about ghosts, but the focus is not on the afterlife. No, it is firmly in the life of here and now. The ghosts that populate the film are still all too caught up in the lives of those that they have left behind to move on. Unfortunately, for everyone involved… Read More »
MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL
A perfectly reasonable reaction to a viewing of MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL is to plaintively inquire of an unfeeling universe what the heck was that? Aside from being a complete waste of everybody’s time, it is a tired retread of an earlier, equally time-wasting Dane Cook flick, GOOD LUCK CHUCK. There is a different lady… Read More »
DUCHESS, THE
THE DUCHESS is a middling film about a larger-than-life historical character from the 18th century. That would be Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley), fashion icon, darling of the public and of the media, she was beautiful, rich, used her position and fame to influence politics, and married to a man who was indifferent to… Read More »
EAGLE EYE
EAGLE EYE exploits paranoia about the invasion of personal privacy by technology with an entertaining action fantasy that pushes all the right buttons. It’s not when the hero, Jerry Shaw (Shia LeBeouf) is presented with his driver’s license, past-due bills, or even video of himself outplaying his pals at poker in the back room of the… Read More »
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE is perfectly calibrated to jerk tears with the precision of the atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory, and with the irresistible insistence of an industrial grade milking machine. It is the quintessential romance novel come to life, beautifully acted and even more beautifully photographed, with leads, Diane Lane and Richard Gere,… Read More »
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