Based on a true story, “American Hustle” opens in a semi-documentary manner, with a line of on-screen prose providing the location — the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan — and the date — November, 1978. Some intermittent voice-over narration from the two major characters throughout the movie continues the documentary tone. After that, however, both action […]
George Grella
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“Philomena”
In the holiday season a weird combination of cinema circumstances usually prevails. On the one hand, the studios release a number of pictures aimed at children, Christmas movies full of good cheer, complete with cute animals and elves, just the thing for bored kids and desperate parents, along with blockbusters for the older crowd. Believing, […]
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“Out of the Furnace”
An odd prologue sets the tone and establishes the central subject of “Out of the Furnace.” Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson), a rural drug dealer and gang leader, anonymous at that point in the film, watches a movie at a drive-in theater, complains of feeling nauseated, then when his girlfriend expresses concern, shoves a hot dog […]
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“Oldboy”
Of all the movies he’s directed in a decidedly uneven career, Spike Lee’s newest production, “Oldboy,” qualifies as the strangest and perhaps the least Spikeish of all his works. To begin with, the picture derives from an unusual source, a Korean movie based on one of those Japanese graphic novels known as manga. Remaking a […]
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“Dallas Buyers Club”
His recent work in film displays quite an impressive versatility for the very active and generally underrated Matthew McConaughey. In “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Magic Mike,” and “Killer Joe,” for example, he plays extremely different characters — a slick defense attorney, a sleazy strip club owner, a soft-spoken, polite hetman/deputy sheriff. His latest picture, “Dallas Buyers […]
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“Blue is the Warmest Color”
Three hours of the new French film, “Blue is the Warmest Color,” should convince even the most ardent Francophiles that the nation has lost its way and drawn a number of film critics along with it. Inspiring considerable discussion before it achieved a wide release, the movie deals with a familiar subject — a young […]
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“12 Years a Slave”
One of the most important movies to appear in the current season, “12 Years a Slave” provides a relevant lesson in some of the darkest passages in the nation’s history as well as a reminder of just how long a shadow that history casts. Beyond its relatively simple and straightforward story, it suggests the moral […]
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“Ender’s Game”
The ambiguity of its title reflects some of the same quality in the content of “Ender’s Game.” Ender Wiggin, the protagonist and intermittent narrator, plays numerous advanced versions of video games throughout the movie, some of them forming an integral part of the action; at the same time, as the script puns on his name, […]
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“The Counselor”
Ridley Scott’s pictures display the talents of one of the most visually creative directors in Hollywood. Movies like “Alien” and “Blade Runner” demonstrate his penchant for using established genres to reinterpret traditional material and move the forms in new and fascinating directions. His latest film, “The Counselor,” with a script by Cormac McCarthy, suggests once […]
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“Carrie”
Back in 1998 Gus Van Sant directed a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror flick “Psycho,” which simply duplicated the original almost shot-for-shot, without adding to or changing or reinterpreting the material. Kimberly Peirce accomplishes much the same result in her new picture, “Carrie,” a remake of Brian De Palma’s 1976 film; like Van Sant […]
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“Captain Phillips”
Based on an account by the title character and more important, on recent events, “Captain Phillips” confronts some compelling contemporary issues in both subject and method. To begin with, the picture belongs to that increasingly popular genre, the docudrama, which shows actual events in a somewhat fictionalized form, like the Iranian hostage crisis in “Argo” […]
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Lost in space
(PG-13), directed by Alfonso Cuaron Now playing The digital revolution, with all its computer-generated images, optical wizardry, and wondrous special effects, now drives far too many filmmakers to produce the bloated blockbusters that rattle the cineplexes summer after summer. Far too often, mechanism substitutes for the traditional content of plot, character, and meaning. Now and […]
