Ho-hum. This would’ve been a better series of newspaper columns than it was a movie; and as with all “based-on-a-true-stories,” you wondered what touches a screenwriter starting ab initio would’ve bothered including. The religious fundamentalism of the first cellist? The parlous state of the newspaper? The involvement of the L.A. mayor? None of these added […]
A movie I’d never heard of about a band I’d never heard of, and I thoroughly enjoyed them both. Shown at the Minneapolis Film Festival, this work started as a promotional video that grew, at Cloud Cult’s request, into the whole story of Greg Minowa and his personal quest to make music. It combined home […]
After a great game – and this was inarguably a great game – what’s more fun than sitting around dissecting the key plays? Now imagine having the chance to do that with all the key players who were involved in that game! Well, that’s only part of the pleasure of this film, which shows the […]
Provocative, haunting and utterly realistic, this movie was like a Gomorrah of the classroom. I walked away not rating the movie so much as judging the individual students, the teachers, the French school system, education in general and even our contemporary society. Unlike Freedom Writers, Stand and Deliver or even Half Nelson, there was no […]
A shallow movie about a shallow man. There is not much pleasure in watching a movie intended to enshrine a vain, prissy prima donna, and what could compensate – the dresses he designed – is also given short shrift: there is really only one dress we get to see at any length. Air kisses all […]
The oft-told love tale – at least since Woody Allen came on the scene – of the geeky guy and the gorgeous girl, this time set, amusingly, in an amusement park run by Bill Hader and a bunch of slacker employees. Kristen Stewart should get Oscar consideration for her portrayal of the heartthrob, perfect on […]
I was glad to read in reviews that the final plot twist made no sense, because that saved the many hours I could have spent trying to reconcile the ending with the action that preceded it. As it was, I attributed my confusion to the compression required in turning a 6-part BBC series into a […]
Unfortunate title, since the characters are so reminiscent of the superior Little Miss Sunshine. Still, there was a good indie-feel, despite big-name actors, and the whole ride was more fun than I usually have with a bunch of losers, however lovable.
Watchability 5. Likeability 4. Credibility 0. Even as a total fantasy, this star vehicle for Julia Roberts and Clive Owen left much to be desired. As a guessing game – when were there reactions real, when were they acting? – it wasn’t worth the effort. If you’re going to make a spy movie, bring back […]
How you feel about Revolutionary Road, either the book or the faithful movie adaptation, depends on how you react to Frank and April Wheeler, for this is really a character study. They are certainly not likeable characters, but that wouldn’t matter if they were comprehensible. And they should be equal. Unfortunately, Kate Winslet is an […]
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