Meticulous in its detail, and lush in its recreation of 19th-century New York City, TNT’s 10-part adaptation of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist is on a par with Martin Scorsese’s similar cinematic visits to that period in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and GANGS OF NEW YORK. While those films separated the mighty and the downtrodden, THE… Read More »
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR
John le Carré writes espionage stories in which the action is cerebral and the suspense comes from a keen observation of each protagonist’s character. Thus, the stakes in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR involve much more than the list of names that will topple those in power. They involve the people caught up in the intrigue… Read More »
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNSTMAN
It was certainly an intriguing enough idea, even a bold one, turning the Evil Queen in SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN in the tragic hero of the piece. It smacks of Miltons re-interpretation of Lucifer in Paradise Lost. Alas, a smack is as far as it goes here. Director Rupert Sanders is no Milton, and… Read More »
47 RONIN
Credit where its due. For all its faults, 47 RONIN doesnt Hollywood-up the traditional ending to the legend that inspired both it and the several other treatments filmed over the years. It also, in those final moments, finds a sweeping, bittersweet poetry that had been missing in the rest of the film. Not that it… Read More »