Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
The Lincoln Lawyer – 6.5
There were enough clues that hung together well enough to keep the mind engaged, and the movie’s subtext – how the justice system is often corrupt and inefficient – is one I could certainly live with. In the end, though, how much more was here than in a good Law and Order episode? Much depended […]
Of Gods and Men – 8
A hauntingly beautiful story of French monks in remote Algeria during a time of civil war, but what impressed me most was the respect it gave and intelligence it ascribed to its viewers. Quotidian events were presented on a par with liturgical, and when crisis came, it was realistic, not overwrought. Whether the monks were […]
The Adjustment Bureau – 5
The ridiculous – no, silly – plot concept, that an “adustment bureau” monitors and controls human fates – by opening doors to a different dimension but having to run on foot to catch a bus – is not saved by a central romance between the normally likeable but here personality-free Matt Damon, who seems to […]
Barney’s Version – 3
“Unpleasant,” “absurd,” “pointless” are the descriptors that come to mind when reacting to this purported comedy, with “insufferable” not far behind. A little Paul Giamatti can be interesting, although I’m tiring of even that, but a whole movie of him smoking cigars, drinking and behaving badly is hard to take. Then there is the question, […]
Another Year – 7.5
Sometimes, it seems, not much happens in a year: we grow tomatoes, have a barbecue party, lose a friend from work – oh, and our son gets engaged. Not much there for a movie, it would seem, but Mike Leigh’s ensemble actors make the mundane sufficiently dramatic without, for the most part, histrionics. The exception […]