It is of course tempting, if a bit too facile, to construct a comparison between the situation in “Birdman” and the realities of Michael Keaton’s career. He began performing as a comic, then as an actor in some entertaining film comedies — “Night Shift,” “Johnny Dangerously,” and “Mr. Mom,” for example — then achieved great […]
George Grella
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Film Review: “St. Vincent”
Despite the myriads of changes in taste and fashion, in audience demographics and box office appeal, the film industry still depends heavily on the ancient formulas of high concept and old hat. High concept refers to a simply understood movie idea that can be summed up in a neat phrase or sentence — “fish out […]
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Film Review: “Fury”
No one doubts that war is Hell, but for Hollywood it remains good cinema. Perhaps because of the passage of time, or because of the rise of the comic-book superhero flicks with all their excessive effects, World War II, the obvious favorite for war films, rarely appears on the screen. The violence and brutality of […]
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Film Review: “The Judge”
Although in real life as we call it, most trials, even criminal trials, are deadly dull affairs, with long, tedious interrogations of witnesses, repeated inquiries about minor points, quibbles over legal minutiae, and often incomprehensible discussions of scientific or technical matters, much of it guaranteed to confuse or anaesthetize jurors. On the stage and screen, […]
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Film Review: “Gone Girl”
Whether in literature or cinema, the mystery story provides an endlessly fascinating source for all kinds of narratives. In a sense, all stories, even all sentences, are mysteries of a sort, since we do not “solve” them until they end. The mystery in the new movie “Gone Girl” demonstrates some of the rich potential of […]
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Film Review: “Gone Girl”
Whether in literature or cinema, the mystery story provides an endlessly fascinating source for all kinds of narratives. In a sense, all stories, even all sentences, are mysteries of a sort, since we do not “solve” them until they end. The mystery in the new movie “Gone Girl” demonstrates some of the rich potential of […]
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Film Review: “The Skeleton Twins”
If nothing else — and sadly, there is not much else — “The Skeleton Twins” demonstrates once again that just about every movie entered in one of those ubiquitous film festivals wins some kind of prize, and that many even win a lot of prizes. The picture arrives in this region having won a screenwriting […]
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Film Review: “A Walk Among the Tombstones”
Although the American private detective story traditionally takes place in California, especially in Los Angeles, many contemporary writers set their works in other locales, some of them actually quite implausible. A surprising number of stories these days deal with small towns, which hardly abound in enough murders, missing persons, stolen jewels, and similar problems to […]
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Film Review: “The Drop”
Aside from its value as a work in and of itself, “The Drop,” rather like another fine recent movie, “A Most Wanted Man,” constitutes a kind of mixed blessing. It presents audiences once again with the ambiguous, bittersweet gift of an opportunity to witness the last performance of a talented, accomplished performer, in this instance […]
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Film Review: “As Above, So Below”
“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” of 1974 (remade four times so far, incidentally) probably initiated the idea of the faux documentary as a basis for the horror film. Possibly more influential, if more crudely made, the brilliantly marketed “Blair Witch Project” solidified the concept, inspiring a number of later movies — the “Paranormal Activity” franchise, […]
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Cinema celebrates the worker
In honor of its 25th anniversary, the organizers of the Rochester Labor Film Series will screen a dozen motion pictures culled from 250 titles, repeating the most popular of all those shown in the past. The selection, a kind of anthology of movies employing the theme of labor, includes works from several countries in addition […]
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Film Review: “The November Man”
Whatever else the contemporary thriller accomplishes, the form strongly establishes the Central Intelligence Agency as major villains in the world of espionage and counterespionage. Over the decades, films as different as “Gorky Park,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” and most recently, “A Most Wanted Man,” to cite only a few examples, paint the Agency as thugs, torturers, […]
