Category: The Twenty-First Century
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Hitchcock [2012] ★★★
What do you say about a movie that introduces the master of suspense as you’ve never seen him before, proves once again that Helen Mirren is one of the finest actresses alive and launches a charm assault that is damn near irresistible? I say, see it. Director Sacha Gervasi has crafted a delightful movie about, of all…
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Gangster Squad [2013] ★★½
Expectations are murder. With a dynamite cast (do Sean Penn and Josh Brolin ever fuck up?), and director Ruben Fleischer who inspired worship for “Zombieland”, you assume a new classic. What you get is an ambitious try. Yet “Gangster Squad” pulls the magician’s trick of distraction, offering enough superficial entertainment value with good use of locations, charismatic actors,…
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Zero Dark Thirty [2012] ★★
Finally Hollywood has produced a movie that dramatizes the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Lol as if you didn’t see that coming. In a nutshell, “Zero Dark Thirty” is the most overrated movie of 2012. Overrated because it’s been nominated for a best picture Oscar and everyone is talking about director Kathryn Bigelow’s wonderful achievement.…
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Hyde Park On Hudson [2012] ★★½
Sometimes, a solid performance makes a movie worth watching. Case in point: Bill Murray, who portrays President Franklin D. Roosevelt in this charming little movie that takes place in the summer of 1939. The story focuses on Roosevelt’s distant cousin Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney) and her relationship with the President. Director Roger Michell imagines what may have happened…
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Django Unchained [2012] ★★★½
Like a crazy motherfucker, Quentin Tarantino lets all his obsessions hang out in “Django Unchained”. Some people may want to kill him for it, but if you’re down with that, head off to the “historically inaccurate” “Django” which should have been called “The Good, the Bad and the Slave” by Quentin Tarantino. In fact, “Django” is an act…
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Lincoln [2012]
I sometimes recoil when people start spreading Oscar buzz about a movie I haven’t seen. Yet I’m willing to forgive this year’s campaign for “Lincoln” because it’s such a terrific movie. At first glance, it sounds like another history lesson about the last four months in the life of America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Instead, “Lincoln” is a crowning…
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This Is 40 [2012] ★★★
If you want to hate on Judd Apatow’s “This is 40” then go ahead. But get ready to be drowned out by the sound of laughter from the rest of us. Yes I laughed. Then I laughed some more. I’ll admit there’s something sitcom-trite about the setup. Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from “Knocked Up”…
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Stand Up Guys [2012] ★½
Excuse my sarcasm but why in hell do Studios always choose January to bury their misfires? They must think we won’t notice, distracted by award season and all. But we do, especially when it’s a film starring legendary actors Al Pacino and Christopher Walken. I’m talking about “Stand Up Guys”, a sorry excuse of a movie about…
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The Possession [2012] ★★
“The Possession” was one of the better horror movies released in 2012, but that’s not saying much. I’m a huge fan of Producer Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” films, but his latest attempt feels awfully repetitive and corny. The plot is pretty basic fare: Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a divorced man, his daughters live with their mother…
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Parental Guidance [2012] ★★
OK family movie with predictable slapstick moments is strengthened by Billy Crystal and Bette Midler’s performances as grandparents who find themselves having to take care of their three grandkids when their parents (Marisa Tomei and Tom Everett Scott) go away for work. Works better if you’ve never seen “Cheaper by the Dozen”, “Daddy Day Care”,…
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Les Misérables [2012] ★★★
Tom Hooper’s flawed but frequently dazzling “Les Misérables” is a hot-blooded musical fantasia full of songs, songs and more songs. There’s barely any spoken dialogue so basically everyone sings for nearly three hours without giving us a chance to take a deep breath! If this isn’t your cup of tea, now’s your chance to run for the…
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Dredd [2012] ★★½
Since Sylvester Stallone screwed up the the comic-book character with his 1995 screen version. I dreaded the idea of another “Dredd” movie. Surprise. This version starring Karl Urban is not half bad. The first movie was pure cheese, and it had Rob Schneider in it (yes it was that bad). Here, things get much darker as Dredd…
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Cloud Atlas [2012] ★★½
“Cloud Atlas” is a movie that offers a grandiose and a disappointing experience at the same time. It flirts with greatness and has much to admire, including exceptional performances from Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent and Hugo Weaving. Their work is reason enough to recommend the film, yet when the movie ended I didn’t know what to make of…
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Jack Reacher [2012] ★★★
Call it cheesy, call it bullshit, call it whatever you want, but gotta admit: “Jack Reacher” is one heck of a vehicle for its leading star Tom Cruise, and he makes the most out of it. I couldn’t care less about it when I first saw the trailer and some folks I spoke to told…
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The Impossible [2012] ★★★
For a film that is alternately emotional, “The Impossible” grabs your attention with a scene worthy of a high-end disaster movie: an incredible depiction of a tsunami. Knowing that it’s coming, as many people will from the previews and advertisements, won’t lessen the impact of this tour de force, which is frighteningly believable in every…
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Life Of Pi [2012] ★★★½
This visually stunning film deserves all the praise it’s been receiving. And we owe it all to director Ang Lee and his wonderful imagination. Everything about it is outstanding, especially when you consider that it is based on a book many considered unfilmable. So what’s it about? Actually, it’s about many things, but first and…
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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 [2012] ★★
“Breaking Dawn part 2” is being presold as the best “Twilight” movie of the series. Faint praise, indeed. And also misleading. The first movie, released in 2008, is still the most bearable because director Catherine Hardwicke dove into the adolescent angst of Stephenie Meyer’s novel without an ounce of condescension. “New Moon” on the other hand directed by Chris…
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Pitch Perfect [2012] ★★½
I’m not a big fan of musical comedies, but “Pitch Perfect” kept me entertained, at least for a while, even as it covered familiar territory. Audiences who liked “Bring it On” for instance will definitely get a kick out of it. Anna Kendrick does a good job as a college freshman who dreams of being…
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012] ★★★
Here’s the buzz: “The Hobbit” is not a masterpiece and lacks the epic scale of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. But one thing’s for sure: “An Unexpected Journey”, Episode One in Peter Jackson’s three-part screen version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book is a solid piece of entertainment. We’ll have to wait another year for “The Desolation of Smaug”, and still…
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Silver Linings Playbook [2012] ★★★
You will hear a lot about this movie. But first you’ll hear it from me. It’s damn rare these days to encounter a film that doesn’t rely on cheap tricks and a predictable script. That’s one reason why “Silver Linings Playbook” is so good. The characters in it are like nothing we’ve seen before, and…
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