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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 Sessions – A decent film, despite Helen Hunt
I think The Sessions could have been a really good film without Helen Hunt. It is an interesting and occasionally moving story, the dialog was pretty decent, and the story was well-told, with good structuring and good pacing. John Hawkes is emerging … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The First Time – a charming little film with an old-school attitude towards dialog
My wife and I saw The First Time in the only theater in NYC that is showing it – the disgusting AMC Empire 25 in Times Square. The tiny, filthy theater assigned to this film was nearly empty. While there, we met … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Argo – an atmospheric, interesting, and thrilling movie
Argo completely lived up to my expectations, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for this film to open for 6 months. It’s a fantastic movie, clearly one of the best this year, and it should not be missed on the big … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Oranges – another good idea ruined by narration and lack of dialog
The title of this review says it all, and it’s really a shame. This was a good story idea, and they had a very talented cast assembled. Hugh Lauire and the very underrated Leighton Meester had a really interesting on-screen … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel – a charming and interesting documentary
I had no idea who Diana Vreeland was until my wife and I saw the lovely little exhibition of Vreeland “fashion art” at the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice earlier this year. That experience made The Eye Has to Travel a … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Searching for Sugar Man – that rare thing: a timelessly beautiful documentary
It is very rare to find a documentary that is timeless. Most documentaries are mediocre and even the good ones are things you see once and never need to watch again. The last truly great documentary was My Architect (2003.) … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Master – a film with no redeeming qualities
The general impression I get from the media and from friends that have seen this film is that The Master is viewed as a somewhat muddled film with great characters and performances and impressive intellectual content. It is actually a really boring, incoherent film, … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower – an outstanding film!
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a wonderful film. It might even prove to be a great film, depending on how repeat viewings stand the test of time. It’s certainly one of the best films of year so far, … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Knuckleball! – rather disappointing
My wife and I caught the premier of Knuckleball! at IFC on Friday, with the filmmakers in attendance answering questions before the show. We wanted to see it because the two gals who made this also made the outstanding documentary … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Arbitrage – This year’s Michael Clayton, only better
Arbitrage reminds me a lot of Michael Clayton. It’s a really fun and involving movie, with a tense and interesting story, good dialog, a charismatic star giving a better-than-normal performance in the lead role, very strong supporting actors (both their … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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