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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
Category Archives: 2012
The Girl – a sweet, low-key little movie
The Girl is a very sweet little movie about a poor young mother from Texas (Abby Cornish) who attempts to smuggle Mexicans across the border to earn extra money, a somewhat desperate move she undertakes because she’s convinced she’ll never … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Central Park Five – a decent documentary on an interesting topic
I remember the Central Park jogger, and the media whirlwind surrounding these kids and the whole concept of “wilding.” Many people could see the case stank from day one, but the police, the prosecution, and the media rammed it through … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Silver Linings Playbook – a light and happy view of mental dysfunction
This is a cute little film that really does not transcend its very effective trailer. There’s a lot of films with this problem lately, and I find that even if I enjoy such films I still leave the theater feeling … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – a (somewhat) better version of Melancholia
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a superior take on the same basic story chronicled in Melancholia, namely something is going to smash into Earth and put us all out of our misery. That does not make it … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Lincoln – worth seeing despite its problems and shortcomings
I enjoyed Lincoln, but I did not love it. It is undeniably a good topic for a film, and they wrote a good amount of fairly decent dialog for the characters. It was interesting, it was educational, and it was … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Skyfall – Why is this film so insanely popular?
Skyfall is a phenomenon here in NYC. Shows are sold out all over the place, even on weeknights. So even though I have never been much of a James Bond enthusiast, and having only seen a couple of the movies since Roger Moore stopped … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Cloud Atlas – shallow, big-budget fun with a good message
Cloud Atlas is kind of fun, in a shallow, drawn-out sort of way. Its general message of individual acts of love overcoming institutionalized violence and hatred is a good one, certainly. The film is not subtle and it is not deep. It’s … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Prometheus – Can Ridley Scott please stop making these “alien baby” movies?
Prometheus is a ridiculous piece of shit. It features hands-down the most disgusting movie alien ever – let’s just call it a giant, walking vagina with teeth, rope-like tentacles and a huge, thick penis that gets stuffed down people’s throats. If … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Smashed – a decent indie movie about the horrors of alcoholism
My wife and I went to see Smashed because we like Arron Paul (Jesse on Breaking Bad.) He’s a warm and talented actor, and the preview made it look like a promising role for him. He is good in the … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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What to Expect When You’re Expecting – Baby Propaganda
What to Expect When You’re Expecting is the latest and most extreme example of Hollywood baby propaganda: the rising movement among mainstream Hollywood films to include scenes that push the idea of parenthood to a white middle-class which is no … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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