Category: GENRE
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Our Brand Is Crisis [2015] ★★½
A flop in the United States back in October, the underrated “Our Brand Is Crisis” may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for a political satire set in the 21st Century, I thought it was entertaining and fiercely honest. Sandra Bullock is well cast as an American campaign strategist called “Calamity” Jane Bodine ,who…
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The 5th Wave [2016] ★½
The first science-fiction flop of the year is a dull, uninspired mess that rips off pretty much every “deadly alien attack” movie ever made. Chloe Grace Moretz can’t save a cheesy script, playing a girl who is constantly on the run from an alien attack, as she desperately tries to find her missing brother. The…
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Bennesbeh La Bokra Chou? [1978]
Watching Ziad El Rahbani’s “Bennesbeh La Bokra Chou?” for the very first time in Beirut was a joy, I daresay a privilege. A play that many people talk about with affection and even passion can finally be seen on the big screen starting January 21 and you can’t possibly miss that. Asked what it was like…
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The Forest [2016] ★★
“The Forest” is one of those horror movies with an intriguing plot but not enough ideas to keep it going. It goes without saying that Game of Throne’s Natalie Dormer makes the overall result feel less terrible than it actually is. She plays a woman who travels all the way to Japan to search for…
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Daddy’s Home [2015] ★½
I love it when everyone is busy with award season and yet studios insist on dumping their worst movies thinking we wouldn’t notice. Well we do notice, especially when it’s a painfully unfunny comedy starring two actors that deserve much much more: Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. Ferrell plays a stepdad who is trying to…
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Spotlight [2015] ★★★½
No other 2015 movie will shock you more than “Spotlight”, a powerful take on what went down in 2001, when The Globe’s investigative team followed every lead to expose the story of sexual abuse within the Boston Catholic church. Director Tom McCarthy, who was clearly inspired by the 1970’s classic “All The President’s Men”, couldn’t…
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The Danish Girl [2015] ★★★
Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) transforms himself yet again in the superior drama “The Danish Girl”, playing Danish painter Einar Wegener, who became an icon in gender-reassignment surgery back in the 1920’s. Everything adds up perfectly well in Tom Hooper’s dazzling film, which profiles not only Lili Elbe, the woman who emerges from…
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The Hateful Eight [2015] ★★★
Only Quentin Tarantino can make a Western film that feels and looks like a stage play and get away with it. I’m talking about “The Hateful Eight”, Tarantino’s 8th feature film and second consecutive Western. If you’re down with that, you’ll have to endure a surprisingly slow first act as we meet the story’s weird but…
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The Revenant [2015] ★★★½
Prepare yourself for the most tension-filled Western film you’ve seen in a very long time. Writer director Alejandro González Iñárritu follows up last year’s Oscar winner “Birdman” with another spectacular film. “The Revenant” is an epic 156 minutes survival story set in the cold West, circa 1823. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a brutal, Oscar worthy performance as Hugh…
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The Big Short [2015] ★★★
Want to see how a bunch of guys predicted that the economic bubble was about to burst before it even happened? Step up for “The Big Short”, a thrillingly intense look at what went down before the financial world collapsed in 2008. Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt play these men, a bunch of…
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Brooklyn [2015] ★★★
“Brooklyn” is a low key, likable film with all the right ingredients to call it a “crowd pleaser”. I’ve been a fan of Saoirse Ronan ever since she played Briony Tallis in 2007’s “Atonement”, and in “Brooklyn” she finally gets the chance to shine in her own love story. She plays an Irish girl who leaves her…
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Joy [2015] ★★½
Critics and audiences were raving about director David O. Russell’s previous movies when they opened a few years ago. But it seems that things aren’t exactly going his way this time around. That’s not to say that “Joy” is a bad movie. Far from it. For one, O. Russell has as good an eye for…
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Carol [2015] ★★★
“Carol” has all the classic ingredients of an Oscar contender: it’s extremely well directed by Todd Haynes (“Far From Heaven”) with a keen eye for detail, it features Cate Blanchett like you’ve never seen her before (and you’ve seen her in many different roles throughout her colorful career), and more importantly it has an emotional story…
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Room [2015] ★★½
Critics have been praising “Room”- the incredible story of a mother (Brie Larson) and her five year old son (Jacob Tremblay) who have been held captive in a tiny room by a kidnapper- for months now. Once again, I respectfully disagree. While the acting couldn’t be more credible (especially Brie Larson who gives a terrific…
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The Peanuts Movie [2015] ★★★
After years of waiting, it’s a pleasure to finally sink into “The peanuts Movie”, the latest animated movie from Blue Sky Studios that radiates charm like no other film of its genre. The classic characters that Charles M. Shulz created for his series of “Charlie Brown” stories have an irresitible appeal that carries over beautifully to the movie.…
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The Little Prince [2015] ★★★
A book that many people considered unfilmable has inspired one of the year’s most riveting and rewarding movies. I don’t like using hype words, but I found “The Little Prince” truly magical and completely immersive. Rather than observing the story from a distance we’re made to feel part of its leading character’s remarkable journey. As the movie…
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens [2015] ★★★½
Fans can relax, the real “Star Wars” finally returns to the big screen in “The Force Awakens”, a burst of pure filmmaking exhilaration that manages to pay tribute to the original trilogy and still boldly add new elements that will make fans of the series jump for joy. I couldn’t be happier. After six movies, an…
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Bus 657 [2015] ★
Another paycheck movie for the once great Robert De Niro in which he pretends to care about the movie or his audience. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a father who has to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. His boss, played by a phony De Niro, refuses to help. So Morgan and his co-workers decide to rob…
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Macbeth [2015] ★★½
Just like many movies based on William Shakespeare’s famous plays, Justin Kurzel’s “Macbeth” is very easy to admire but a bit more difficult to love. A lot of critics who saw it on opening day sang its praises to the skies, but I respectfully disagree. The movie has too many beautiful passages, mainly when the great Michael…
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Victor Frankenstein [2015] ★★
Did we need another retelling of the classic Mary Shelley story about Dr. Frankenstein and his monstrous creation? Hell no. But Hollywood doesn’t give a damn what we think. So here we are. James McAvoy (so good in tons of other movies) plays young Victor Frankenstein. Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe plays his assistant Igor. You…
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