Having written, directed, and starred in a number of broad comedies, all proclaiming his ownership of the franchise, Tyler Perry surely qualifies as that darling of the cineastes, an auteur. Now, after playing the title character in all those Madea flicks, he takes on an entirely different role in an entirely different genre. He plays […]
George Grella
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MOVIE REVIEW: “Argo”
The Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1981, which some readers may remember, did more than inflation, gasoline prices, or Ronald Reagan to sink Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Every night on ABC TV Ted Koppel would solemnly intone the number of days the captured diplomats remained in the hands of the revolutionaries. The incident also spawned Reagan’s infamous […]
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MOVIE REVIEW: “Taken 2”
As everyone knows, in the film industry success tends to breed success, and of course too often excess also breeds excess, which helps to explain the common practice of proliferating sequels to pictures that bring in the big bucks. Mixing memory and desire, the studio executives, bankers, accountants, and agents, or in other words, the […]
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MOVIE REVIEW: “Cosmopolis”
In movies like “eXistenZ” (how’s that for a title?), “The Fly,” and “Crash,” David Cronenberg has demonstrated an interest in unusual combinations of the biological and the mechanical. In his latest work, “Cosmopolis,” he attempts to explore some more abstract territory, the world of a currency manipulator who handles all his business through a bank […]
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MOVIE REVIEW: “Trouble with the Curve”
In his last public appearance, Clint Eastwood achieved the most memorable moment at this year’s Republican National Convention by addressing an empty chair; news stories about the event mentioned his age — 82 — unkindly insinuating that the actor perhaps exhibited signs of senility. Whatever the source of his presentation, he does seem to have […]
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MOVIE REVIEW: “Arbitrage”
Although the writer-director takes the title of his film from one of those clever stock manipulations that wheeler dealers in the financial racket employ to make millions of dollars, “Arbitrage,” curiously, never shows any of that practice. Instead, the movie concentrates on just the sort of conniving that even a novice recognizes, a simple custom […]
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“The Words”
Although throughout its history the cinema has offered numerous examples of films about artists of all sorts, writers seem the least congenial subjects for the camera. Composers, musicians, painters, sculptors, actors, dancers, even filmmakers themselves provide rich visual material for any director. The actual methods and practices of creation in the graphic, plastic, and performing […]
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Deep in the dark heart of Texas
Though the dreaded NC-17 rating usually frightens producers and directors, it apparently didn’t deter William Friedkin, whose work includes not only such classics as “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection,” but also the daring and highly unpopular “Cruising.” His new film, “Killer Joe,” most likely earned its rating not for the usual causes, i.e., excessive […]
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A new kind of biker flick
The movie begins with a scary collision between a bicycle and an automobile, which sends the cyclist flying through the air in extremely slow motion, flipping over a few times and landing hard his back. After that moment, with the time officially (and regularly) noted on the screen, the action moves backward, so that the […]
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Bourne again and again
Following “Identity,” “Supremacy,” and “Ultimatum,” the latest picture in the highly successful Bourne franchise, “The Bourne Legacy,” follows the established formula fairly closely, but also adds a good deal to the collection and even to its genre. Unlike most of the summer spectaculars, many adapted from comic books and aimed directly at a young audience, […]
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Politics as usual
If “The Ides of March,” which appeared in theaters last year, demonstrated some gritty, depressing truths about the political process, in this endless and painful election season it seems perfectly appropriate to observe the other side of the subject in comic form. Certainly the process lends itself to comedy — the recently concluded Republican primary, […]
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Past and present, memory and dream
The remarkably productive and inventive Phillip K. Dick explored some of the most unusual territory in all of science fiction, blending futuristic technology with complex inquiries into brain chemistry, the process of cognition, and the very meaning of reality. His ingenious work inspired some highly unusual movies — “Blade Runner,” based on the novel “Do […]
