Although he’s ridden the dusty trails of many Westerns and nailed scores of criminals in San Francisco and other cities, Clint Eastwood constantly expands his cinematic vision. He seems a most unlikely director for the adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, “Jersey Boys,” for example, but some of his films exhibit not only his versatility […]
Film review
Posted inMovies
“Obvious Child”
Since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, “Obvious Child” has consistently been referred to as “the abortion romantic-comedy,” a reductive — if still fairly accurate — description of the film, which manages to tackle a hot-button issue with wit and honesty, while operating within the confines of a crowd-pleasing (and filthy) […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “How to Train Your Dragon 2”
Released in 2010, the first “How to Train Your Dragon” movie has proven to be a singular entry in Dreamworks Animation’s filmography. The studio’s animation division is “The House That Shrek Built” through and through, and the majority of its output has been modeled on that first massive success: jokey tales laden with pop culture […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “Citizen Koch”
Recalling the days of the Great Depression, when social and economic conditions inspired a number of gifted photographers and filmmakers to document the American experience, in our time the nonfiction film appears to be undergoing something of a renaissance. The contemporary documentary often confronts subjects ignored by the bland and timid mainstream media — revelations […]
Posted inMovies
“Edge of Tomorrow”
A collection of uninspired trailers sold “Edge of Tomorrow” as a derivative, effects-driven science-fiction action thriller, and to be fair, it is — calling to mind everything from “Aliens” to “Starship Troopers” melded into a high-concept premise inspired by “Groundhog Day.” But what those trailers drastically undersold is how much fun the film is and […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “The Rover”
Director David Michôd’s bleak, post-apocalyptic neo-western, “The Rover,” begins with a title card explaining that it takes place in Australia 10 years after “the collapse.” No more detail is given about how or why this collapse occurred, and it isn’t really necessary. It’s enough to know that all that remains is the dregs of society, […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “Ida”
Aside from special occasions organized by significant segments of the community like the local Polish film festival or the Jewish film festival, few motion pictures from Poland play in theaters in this country, which makes the release of the new movie “Ida” an unusual and welcome event. It also should make audiences grateful all over […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “Maleficent”
When it comes to all-time great movie entrances, you can’t do much better than the first appearance of the sorceress Maleficent in Walt Disney’s 1959 animated masterpiece, “Sleeping Beauty.” With a bolt of lightning, the witch appears, crashing a royal christening to deliver a promise of certain death to an infant, seemingly because the king […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “Cold in July”
Film noir has ascended from its murky origins in the dark past back in the 1940’s to high cinema fashion in our time, when any crime story of any kind earns the trendy term. Detective films, gangster movies, horror flicks, everything but romantic comedies, no matter their style or content, huddle under the great critical […]
Posted inMovies
“A Million Ways To Die In the West”
“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane has got to be one of the most frustrating entertainers working in Hollywood today. His projects tend to rely on the shock value of politically incorrect humor while pandering to the lowest common denominator with endless barrages of dick and fart jokes. But at the same time, he manages to […]
Posted inMovies
“Palo Alto”
“Palo Alto” marks the debut of the third generation of filmmakers from the Coppola family, with the first feature from writer-director Gia Coppola. Her film takes inspiration from a collection of short stories by James Franco, but don’t let that scare you off, as Coppola delivers a remarkably assured depiction of aimless youth stumbling through […]
Posted inMovies
“Belle”
In addition to the countless films made from original scripts, the medium’s long history demonstrates a close relationship with other arts. Hundreds of movies grow out of plays, short stories, novels, poems, even popular songs, but the origin of “Belle” may be unique —it began with a painting. The painting, an 18th-century portrait of two […]
