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Recent Reviews
- Good Kill – An artistic exploration of drone assassinations
- Citizenfour – a fascinating and important topic, but a disappointing documentary
- Interstellar – Probably the best film of the year, certainly the most enjoyable!
- Laggies – a delightful little film about late-blooming misfits
- Two Days, One Night – it’s (almost) exactly what you expect it to be
- Whiplash – a disgusting, stupidly manipulative piece of absurdity.
- Still Alice – big stars, big production, but still just a Hallmark movie of the week
- Wild – it’s surprisingly well-made and fun to watch
- Black Sea – diverting, but sadly predictable
- Birdman (Or the Expected Emptiness of Pretension)
- Mr. Turner – Planet of the Ape
- The Imitation Game – It’s an abomination
- A Brief Word on the 2014 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts
- Kill The Messenger – The important and tragic story of Gary Webb, the mainstream media, and the CIA
- This is Where I Leave You – the latest in a long line of “family reunion” movies
- A review of summer cinema – it was pretty grim!
- The Trip to Italy – It never should have been made
- A Most Wanted Man – Superficially entertaining, but poorly-made and overrated
- Magic in the Moonlight – It’s pissing me off!
- The Purge: Anarchy – Surprisingly, it’s rather good
- I Origins – ambitious and entertaining
- Boyhood – a bit one dimensional, but its one dimension is lovely, impressive and fun to experience
- Obvious Child – cute, dignified and gutsy
- Snowpiercer – a fantastic, riveting science fiction action allegory
- Edge of Tomorrow – it’s fairly entertaining
- Begin Again – confronting the future of pop music head-on
- The Fault in Our Stars – not super-moving, but definitely enjoyable
- Hellion – a gritty tale of fucked up parents and children
- Night Moves – a cool, subtle portrayal of hippy-liberal activism turned violent
- Cold In July – an outstandingly fun and unusual film, and a paean for the 1980s
- Austenland – so horrible, I’m speechless
- Elena – 80 minutes of torture
- Lucky Them – Toni Collette takes center stage and lights up the screen!
- Belle – it means well, but God is it slow (and dull)
- Finding Vivian Maier – an okay documentary on a fascinating artist
- The German Doctor (Wakolda) – Diverting, but feels more than a little contrived
- Chef – it’s heart is in the right place
- Jodorowsky’s Dune – a bizarre and amazing documentary
- Hateship, Loveship – it goes down well
- Divergent – entertaining, but there’s a lot wrong with it
Author Archives: roguespirit
Loot – more about the horrors of war than about treasure hunting
Loot was not at all what I expected. It is advertised as a treasure hunting documentary, where a real-life Indiana Jones helps these two veterans of WWII try to find caches of war loot that they buried oversees at the … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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Uncertainty – talented actors get a chance to shine
I liked Uncertainty, which I saw with my wife at the IFC theater in Manhattan. As I have mentioned in prior reviews, I am a big fan of Joseph Gordon Levitt and have been waiting for him to finally get … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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Me and Orson Welles – see it for Christian McKay
I normally do not go for this kind of movie – a humorous chronicle of a wacky production of a play. But in Me and Orson Welles it is done so entertainingly that it won me over. The central reason … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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The Ugly Truth (… about this movie.)
The Ugly Truth is a lame, badly written comedy. Sure Gerard Butler has a few good lines (not great lines, mind you) in the beginning, but this is a highly formulaic robo-comedy, with everything on auto pilot aimed at the … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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The Men Who Stare at Goats – funny and entertaining
I enjoyed The Men Who Stare at Goats. It’s pretty funny and entertaining. George Clooney is a true star – he looks great, he has a great voice, and he’s really fun to watch. If you think about his career, … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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Where the Wild Things Are – Eli Lilly’s new market
I was so psyched to see this movie, mainly from the preview (which was really well done.) I didn’t love the book as a child, but I liked it a lot. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy watching the film … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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An Education – worth seeing
I liked An Education. I didn’t love it, but it was very engaging with good performances all around. So nice to see Carey Mulligan (from the fabulous BBC Bleak House miniseries) getting a starring role in a film like this, … Continue reading
The Invention of Lying – a light but dignified comic diversion
Ricky Gervais obviously is tormented by eugenics. This is a cute, light movie about a world where no one lies and a guy that figures out how and becomes really powerful. But then about half way through the movie something … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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Whip It – good fun and a good message
Whip It is a fun, uplifting movie. It has a great message about individuality and following your heart in life, and about the need for parents to let go of the desire to control the lives and choices of their … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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Fame(1980) vs. Fame(2009)
The original Fame: It was perfect, so why would anyone remake it? Alan Parker’s Fame (1980) is a landmark film. It stands with other timeless, near-perfect classics such as Missing, The Verdict, Tootsie, and My Dinner with Andre at the … Continue reading
Posted in 2009, Films of the 1980s
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