A nicely done theatrical piece, more than a movie – and I’m not sure how well it relates to actual history. Frank Langella’s portrayal of Tricky Dick was superb, but even with all the layers he conveyed, one felt it didn’t come close to plumbing the actual depths of Nixon’s character. What really drove the […]
I can’t think of a single scene that failed to tax my credulity, either due to the extremity of the characterization, the absurdity of the plot, or the inconsistency of the direction. So often did I hear myself thinking, this would never happen like this, that I could only conclude that this was another of […]
I admit to a personal aversion to Indian poverty and I favor realism to highly improbable stories, but this movie plugged into the energy of Mumbai and swept me along until, best of all, a curtain call in which the cast sang and danced and all the sordidness, violence, corruption and depressing poverty was temporarily […]
The longest two hours I’ve had in a movie this year. For 15 minutes the film showed promise, with Charlie Kaufman-trademark quirkiness leavening Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener’s dysfunctional marriage. Then the MacArthur grant arrives and the few remaining tethers to reality are cut loose, leaving us nothing to care about. People are not […]
Anne Hathaway gives a riveting performance (Best of the Year) as the psychotic woman released from rehab to attend, but in the event almost wreck, her sister’s wedding. The other characters barely register (I kept waiting in vain for Sidney to display some evidence of a personality), and none can draw our eyes away from […]
We saw this a year later, and on TV, but my firm belief is that this is the one movie about the Iraq war, so far at least, that will stand the test of time. (We tried to watch The Deer Hunter the other night, to see if that plays a similar role for Vietnam, […]
Unfortunately, a loser of a film about unfortunate losers in the rock’n’roll sweepstakes, the Canadian heavy-metallists, Anvil. The two leads, Lips and Robb, look so much like the stars of Spinal Tap, the film often resembles a parody of a parody, which is not a good thing. The songs, of which we get to hear […]
The Mideast terrorist world seems to be the new Cold-War-spy paradigm for thrillers, and if this scenario hadn’t felt so familiar it would have rated even higher. Mark Strong was sharp as the Jordanian security chief, and all the Arabs were convincing Arabs. Brad Pitt’s Arabic accent was standard American, but otherwise he was a […]
Not nearly as bad as reviews led me to expect, but its triviality did confirm for me that all the Coen Bros. movies aren’t worth saving, let alone masterworks. Sort of like Woody Allen, I guess. Anyway, this is a one-joke movie that passes the time, however implausibly, and depends on how you like various […]
Another director, Ed Harris this time, is enticed by the beauty of the Old West, this time New Mexico, to make a post-modern Western, with noble Indians in a cameo role. Unfortunately, in mining a past genre, the filmmakers have come up with nary a novel plotline or character. Viggo Mortenson is exemplary, Jeremy Irons […]
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