In light of the current tensions involving Russia and Ukraine, a movie about the Soviet defense of Stalingrad in 1942 provides some relevant instruction in some of the history of that nation and its attitudes toward the rest of Europe. Most viewers probably know little or nothing of the suffering the Russians endured in what […]
George Grella
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Film Review: “Non-Stop”
Although it fits quite obviously into that broad, vague category of the cinematic thriller, the new movie “Non-Stop” actually contains an unusual combination of elements. It takes place almost entirely inside an airplane flying across the Atlantic from New York to London, establishing a setting and situation naturally fraught with a certain tension, even before […]
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Film Review: “3 Days to Kill”
If nothing else, the new movie “3 Days to Kill” demonstrates once again that filmmakers should be grateful for the mere existence, as well as the checkered history, of the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA provides the subject for countless thrillers, and in the future no doubt will continue to attract the interest of directors […]
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Film Review: “Winter’s Tale”
Although it’s only February and the reviewers haven’t quite used up their tiresome Top 10 lists, the new movie “Winter’s Tale” might qualify as the oddest film of the year, right up there with “Old Boy.” A fantasy/romance/weepie based on a novel by Mark Helprin, the picture employs a cast of well-known and accomplished actors, […]
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Film Review: “The Monuments Men”
A story too little known, the work of a group of some 300 men and women on a most unusual military mission in World War II provides the basis for George Clooney’s latest movie, “The Monuments Men.” The unit, a decidedly unmilitary bunch of museum curators, artists, art historians, and architects, worked in Europe, landing […]
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OBIT: George Grella on the work of Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014) The sudden death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, an honored son of Rochester, provoked an outpouring of grief and praise from friends, colleagues, critics, and of course his fans and admirers. The world of cinema lost a major talent, a man who excelled in his craft in large and small roles, in […]
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Film Review: “Labor Day”
A love story about a brief and passionate romance between an escaped convict and a divorced single mother suffering a prolonged nervous breakdown hardly seems guaranteed box-office boffo, even for the weepie crowd. For reasons of his own, Jason Reitman, who previously directed some offbeat films like “Thank You for Smoking” and “Up in the […]
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Film Review: “I, Frankenstein”
Although not nearly so prolific in its progeny as another 19th-century novel, “Dracula,” Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” has generated numerous adaptations to the screen, beginning with the classic 1931 version, starring Boris Karloff as the monster. Since that time, both audiences and filmmakers have confused the creature and his creator, so that the title often incorrectly […]
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Film Review: “Inside Llewyn Davis”
The writing/directing team of Joel and Ethan Coen can claim a considerable number of movies that pleased both critics and audiences, not always an easy achievement. Their work varies widely, films as different as an outrageous comedy like “The Big Lebowski,” an eccentric crime story like “Fargo,” or a dark, bloody thriller like “No Country […]
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Film Review: “August: Osage County”
If nothing else, “August: Osage County” validates Tolstoy’s famous dictum about happy versus unhappy families. The Weston family of Osage County, in the dry, dreary prairies of Oklahoma, actually easily surpasses the concept of unhappy, achieving a level of dysfunction, anger, and sheer toxicity rarely shown in motion pictures, or even real life. The movie […]
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Film Review: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
The first movie based on James Thurber’s most famous short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” was adapted for the screen back in 1947, starring the multitalented Danny Kaye in the title role. Walter Mitty, a timid, passive, henpecked husband, embarrassingly incompetent at ordinary tasks, constantly falls into daydreams in which he assumes such […]
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Film Review: “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Initially, the heavily hyped Martin Scorsese film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” seems an unusual effort for the director of so many dark, urban crime stories rich in violence and ethnicity. The rollercoaster ride of his latest movie offers a different set of subjects, situations, and characters — no cops, no mobsters, no shootings, stabbings, […]
