One take is that the entire movie is the coma-induced imaginings of Joao, an abandoned bastard longing to know his real parents. That would explain the fancy balls, the imprisoned duchess, the Dickensian coincidences and the consistent world view of nobles flirting, seducing and changing identities. Another take: let’s make a movie that animates all […]
A very French look at existence through the eyes, and videocamera, of 11-year-old Paloma, brilliantly acted by one Garance Le Guillermic, a “child actor” in physique only. Just as wonderful is the title character played by Josiane Balasko, a frumpy concierge who reads Tolstoy in private. While the ending alludes to Anna Karenina, I’m sure […]
A tableau vivant in which ‘reality’ is a painting – specifically, Pieter Breugel’s “Road to Cavalry.” The movie obscures Jesus’s crucifixion amid 16th-century Flemish peasants and red-tunicked Spanish soldiers, just as Breugel did in his metaphor-filled canvas. With minimal soundtrack and even less dialogue, watching this film becomes an intense experience, and trying to piece […]
By treating baseball players as commodities – to be coldly evaluated, drafted, traded and released – Moneyball has made the players I watch nightly on television seem more human than I have regarded them before. I can’t, however, share in the general adulation accorded Brad Pitt. He floats above the locker room more movie star […]
A deft amalgam of rowdy humor and murderous criminality, this dramedy rode the broad back of Brendan Gleeson to a wistful conclusion that made you mourn the end of the story, and perhaps the character. Unfortunately, both were let down by Don Cheadle’s unbelievable American counterpart, more Stepin Fetchit than crime-stopper. What a lone FBI […]
A taut, tingling, stylish and supercool action thriller. The plot is a genre staple; how it is told makes the movie. Nicolas Winding Refn uses silences, and holds them, while the background drumbeat and technomusic push the suspense, and when violence erupts it is shocking – as in the sensation of an electric prod on […]
A rare old-fashioned well-made film, with good guys, bad guys, a plot, fine acting, a bit of history, local color and a satisfying ending. This is sure-fire Oscar bait, although with so many deserving actresses – in order, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain – it’s hard to know who will get […]
A bit of lightweight fluff, athough there may have been serious undercurrents lurking, as suggested more by the title in French, Les Noms des Gens, as in, what’s in a name?, or who is really French? The biggest revelation may have been how unerotic full-frontal nudity of a beautiful woman could be, as Sara Forestier […]
One wonders how good a movie this could have been with a real actor instead of Steve Carrell in the lead role, but since he was the movie’s executive producer that wasn’t going to happen. As a result, you had Julianne Moore going through a kaleidoscope of facial expressions, showing real hurt, confusion, and longing, […]
This was about as real as a $3 bill. Aside from Jenna Elfman, I can think of no character or scene that could exist outside the hackneyed imagination of a fledgling Hollywood sitcom writer. And as for the buzz that Justin Timberlake can act, don’t believe that, either.
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