A Rorschach blot of a movie: Is the depiction of Precious’s life courageous or demeaning? Is she a winner, for overcoming obstacles, or still a loser, facing life as a grotesquely overweight HIV-positive unwed mother of two (one with Down’s Syndrome)? Is her rescue by a special-ed teacher thrilling because it is so unique, or […]
A harrowing portrait of a poor Mexican girl who happens to be an illegal-immigrant-to-be. The story doesn’t emerge as hers until after a first half that is caught up in gang violence and initiation. Echoes of other Latin American stories – Amores Perros and Maria Full of Grace in particular – are unavoidable, with Gomorrah […]
You don’t have to be an admirer of Michael Jackson or his music – and I am neither – to be awed and amazed at the level of professionalism that was going into his comeback concert, and has now been preserved in this skillful film by concert director Kenny Ortega. If you thought MJ weird […]
Timothy Spall is not your normal love interest, in a buddy pic no less; nor is it usual to find a biopic about a soccer coach failing big-time, although the film adds a true-life documentary PS that shows everything coming out right. After portraying Tony Blair and David Frost in somewhat similar equivocal roles, Michael […]
Carey Mulligan was charming and believable (cf. Ellen Page in Whip It) as a 17-year-old who is wise beyond her years, but still a few years short of what is needed. The older man who picks her up, played by Peter Sarsgaard, had a corresponding charm, but there was a hole in the character’s credibility. […]
Just when I thought there couldn’t be a scene more unbelievable than the last, Ellen Page and her Ashton Kutcher boyfriend found an unguarded indoor swimming pool, dove in with all their clothes and shoes on and proceeded to make love in an underwater ballet. Two years after playing a teen in Juno, Page, by […]
See The September Issue, above. Maybe I just need a break from documentaries. I think a documentary just about either Jimmy Page or the Edge, with more concert footage, would have been better. I did like Page’s hair.
No plot. No drama. A superficial look at a superficial subject, although I will say that Anna Wintour commanded the camera. The Devil Wears Prada was better.
Love, fashion – and, oh, a lot of cigarette-smoking by our heroine – is about all there was in this ultimately tiresome period biopic. The story of how Gabrielle (Coco) maneuvered into society had some zip, but it was subsumed in the story of how her forays into personal expression fomented a fashion revolution, which […]
Why would a successful call girl choose suicide, in such deliberate fashion no less? Why would a Catholic priest risk his career, and his life, to stop her, without even knowing who she is? Despite such an unconvincing premise, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie’s indie pace, the encounters between characters, the small jokes (often at […]
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