This is a long delayed posting of a much underseen film that did not get the recognition I believe it deserved during awards season. As a matter of fact, looking back over its awards history, I am really saddened that writer /director Courtney Hunt went unrecognized in all of the big competitions. But I am getting ahead of [...]
Gomorra is a certain kind of movie in a certain kind of neorealistic style that lulls critics into a false sense of security. That is, makes them believe that because of its brightly saturated colors, minimalist lighting, unprofessional actors and meandering story lines with dark themes and tragic consequences that it is “good.” With this [...]
I finally saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this weekend. Oh boy, did I see it. For 3 hours I saw it and saw it. Longer if you count the 9 or 10 times I’ve seen Forrest Gump. The fact that this movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards makes me seriously question whether [...]
Is there anything better than a SearchingOutOldGirlfriends movie? Well, maybe a Jean-Claude Van Damme double feature, but besides that. In an instance similar to more recent efforts like The Wrestler, Jim Jarmusch‘s 2005 mid-life drama Broken Flowers never could have worked without the sensibilities of its star, in this case Bill Murray. Murray plays Don [...]
I’ve come to a conclusion. It’s a big, sweeping, unnecessary conclusion, but as I finished watching Neil LaBute‘s The Shape of Things the other day, it became painfully obvious. Brace yourself. With very few exceptions, I do not like movies based on stage plays. Good, bad, mediocre. Well directed with stars or haphazard with unknowns. It [...]
Is it fair that a movie with a 15 year old girl taking an older lover that spent a good 15% of its runtime with the pair romping around in bed would have been chastised for such lewd portrayal of an inappropriate romance whereas The Reader is garnering critical praise across the globe because the [...]
Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman? Based on a play? About molestation in the church? Wow! Sounds like it’s in the proverbial pretentious art house bag! Add in the doe-eyed Amy Adams as a nun and you’re golden. Yes, all this and more got me in the door to what doesn’t exactly appear to be [...]
I used to love the Random Sunday Afternoon movies that would come on TV and I would have never heard of. Now that I’m too cheap to pay for cable, I’m left to get my random movies from the internet. Hulu to the rescue! Just Between Friends is a cheesy melodrama from 1986. Holly (Mary [...]
Usually, when a movie comes out with a couple of star actors – especially two that I happen to be fairly fond of — I hear about it. And if I don’t, it’s normally a very bad sign, not only in terms of poor marketing and disappointing box office, but also in terms of the quality [...]
As a teenager, I very vividly remember going to see Moulin Rouge. Even then, I was a budding film snob, but my adolescent heart was still fluttering with excitement, from the marketing, the music, the experience that it promised. And boy did it deliver. With Moulin Rouge, Baz Lurhmann put himself on my map (I [...]