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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: Films of the 1980s
Hanna K. (1983) – interesting, ocasionally lovely, but flawed by bad performances
When Hanna K. came out in 1983, it was virtually banned in the United States. Why? It portrayed Palestinians as human beings. Indeed it was the first film to do so in the West. It’s impossible to rent or buy a copy … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 1980s
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Shutter Island (2010) / Angel Heart (1987) – Scorsese lamely copies the work of a forgotten master
Surely some critic somewhere must have noticed that Shutter Island is a rip-off of Angel Heart. The spirit of the story, the structuring of scenes, the visual effects, the use of flashbacks, it all hearkens back to the particular genius … Continue reading
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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Changeling (2008)/The Changeling (1980) – A “changeling double feature”
My wife and I recently did a “changeling” double feature: Changeling (2008) with Angelina Jolie, and The Changeling (1980) staring George C. Scott. I did not realize it, but the films have rather similar themes – children disappearing and other … Continue reading
Posted in 2008, Films of the 1980s
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