Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Catfish – 5
There’s something about a handheld-camera documentary that wears on me. The story would seem just as authentic if it were a bit more professionally made. Beyond that, I don’t think I was the target audience for a Facebook mystery. “Nev” was good-looking and a nice-enough guy, but I can think of others I would rather […]
The Other Guys – 6
More than a harmless piffle, this Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy was replete with cute moments and laugh-out-loud jokes. I know, because I was the only one in the theater. (Several days later I watched Caddyshack via Netflix. By comparison, that movie was stupid – the Rodney Dangerfield character embarrassing. I didn’t cringe once at […]
Restrepo – 4
A very disappointing documentary about a Marine outpost called ‘Restrepo’ in remote Afghanistan. It had none of the characters, none of the action, none of the suspense, none of the message of Matterhorn, the book about a Marine company in Vietnam that Siri and I had both just finished reading. The use of talking […]
Cairo Time – 5
A showcase, if not vanity project, for Patricia Clarkson, the movie stands or falls on how you view her character’s actions. We’re handicapped by not knowing much about where she comes from and what her husband is like, until it is too late. But existing in a kind of vacuum doesn’t excuse her blithe […]
Get Low – 4
For all appearances, a vanity project for Robert Duvall, who played a character we’ve seen him play many times before, interesting as a sideshow but not the main feature. Bill Murray’s character was the only one with any hint of complexity, but the highly superficial story hardly let him develop it. The story itself made […]