Category: 3.5/4
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The Grand Budapest Hotel [2014] ★★★★
The dumb rap against the brilliant Wes Anderson is that his movies (From “Rushmore” to “Moonrise Kingdom”) all hit on similar themes and techniques. Damn him. And damn Scorsese and his obsession with gangsters. And what’s with Tarantino and violence? My point is, an artist can spend a lifetime developing personal themes and deepening their…
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier [2014]
Yes! Yes! Yes! We have a winner. Apologies if I’m fangirling, but how can I not? Marvel sequels are usually a tricky business, which means I couldn’t care less about “Iron Man 2” and “Thor: The Dark World“. By that standard, the Captain America sequel should follow in their footsteps. Not this time. “Winter Soldier”,…
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The Past [2013] ★★★½
Writer/Director Asghar Farhadi made a strong impression with his Oscar winning feature “A Separation” a couple of years ago. His latest movie, “The Past”, isn’t an Oscar contender this year but that’s no reason for you to skip it. Much like his previous film, “The Past” dramatizes a credible situation and holds you in its…
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Dallas Buyers Club [2013] ★★★½
After years of watching Matthew McConaughey waste his talent on mediocre movies (“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”? Really?), it’s a pleasure to finally see him sink his teeth into a challenging role. In “Dallas Buyers Club”, he plays Ron Woodroof, the homophobic man who gets diagnosed with HIV and finds himself with just 30 days to…
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Her [2013] ★★★½
Yes, this is the movie where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a machine. No, this is not a movie you should rush to avoid. Screenwriting this smart, inventive and passionate is a rare species these days. So all praise to Spike Jonze, who wrote and directed his most original film since 1999’s “Being John…
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Blue Jasmine [2013] ★★★½
Woody Allen has had his ups and downs over the years (“Anything Else” was awful for instance), but “Blue Jasmine” is one of his best movies in years. As usual he has assembled an impressive cast and given them interesting roles to play. It’s a treat to watch Cate Blanchett (in an Oscar worthy performance),…
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The Wolf Of Wall Street [2013] ★★★½
You don’t need to know shit about Wall Street to sink your teeth into this beast of a movie. Martin Scorsese is the man, the most exciting director of his generation, with such classics as “Raging Bull”, “The King of Comedy”, “GoodFellas” and “Casino” to prove it. Here’s the downside: any hint of dissatisfaction from…
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12 Years A Slave [2013] ★★★½
Every once in a while, movie buffs look for movies that push them out of their comfort zones into uncharted territory. “12 Years A Slave”, the latest masterpiece from director Steve McQueen (“Hunger”, “Shame”) is such a movie. It’s a cinematic triumph that defines the American Slave Trade. Chiwetel Ejiofor delivers a bold and brilliantly immersive…
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Manhattan [1979]
In many ways, “Manhattan” is one of Woody Allen’s best and most personal movies. His relationship with New York is a never ending love story. “He adored it. He idolized it all out of proportion”. The film offers a funny version of Allen’s real life world in which existentialism plays a major role. His character…
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire [2013] ★★★½
Here is the jaw-dropping, heart-stopping movie we’ve been waiting for all year. Francis Lawrence follows up last year’s “The Hunger Games” with a stupendously entertaining sequel. If you didn’t see the first chapter in this three part film version of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling trilogy, get the DVD. Lawrence leaps into Part II with no patience for…
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Rush [2013] ★★★½
Nothing heats up the fall season like a Formula One movie directed by non other than Ron Howard (“Frost/Nixon”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “Apollo 13”) . “Rush”, starring Chris Hemsworth (aka Thor) and Daniel Bruhl (in a performance of a lifetime) is a knockout. At first, you’d think a car racing movie about two rivals wouldn’t…
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Gravity [2013] ★★★½
Question: How do you transform a simple story about survival into one of the most dazzling movies you’ll see this year? You call Alfonso Cuaron, the director of “Children of Men”, who turns it into a magnificent and moving experience. Cuaron’s use of 3D to tell the story is absolutely thrilling. Like “Life of Pi”, from…
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Prisoners [2013] ★★★½
Other films this year will have to try hard to match the explosive power and masterful direction of Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners”. His film sneaks up, messes with you head and leaves you breathless. Allow it. Yet on the surface, the plot sounds like an ordinary police procedural: Keller Dover’s (Hugh Jackman) six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing,…
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The Hunt [2013] ★★★½
A powerful and thought provoking drama is rare during summer season. That’s what makes “The Hunt” so special, and I hope moviegoers will find their way to see it. It’s one of the year’s best films. Danish writer-director Thomas Vinterberg aims to shock his audience by telling the story of a divorced schoolteacher (Mads Mikkelsen, Le…
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Before Midnight [2013] ★★★½
We first met Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) in Vienna in “Before Sunrise”. To some, the movie was talky. To others (me included), it was unique and as far away as possible from the Hollywood formula. “Before Sunset” picked up 9 years later in Paris, where the two met again briefly before Jesse had…
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Star Trek: Into Darkness [2013] ★★★½
Summer season is officially on with “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, a spectacular follow up to the 2009 movie starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and directed by J.J Abrams. I couldn’t be more surprised. After six TV series and 10 movies, the franchise has been milked so hard, it’s a wonder the idea hasn’t dried out and disintegrated. The…
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The Place Beyond The Pines [2013] ★★★½
Director Derek Cianfrance pours everything he knows about directing in “The Place beyond the Pines”. His movie messes with your head and then floors you. It’s that honest, that powerful. Describing the plot without giving too much away would be impossible. But you should know straight away that it’s a long, emotional ride. The movie is…
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Searching For Sugar Man [2012] ★★★½
This year’s Oscar winner for Best Documentary is the incredible story of a Mexican- American songwriter called Rodriguez, who failed miserably in America in the early 70’s but became a pop culture icon in South Africa where he found a huge audience. The sad thing is that Rodriguez had no idea he was a legend…
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Wadjda [2012] ★★★½
Can I tell you how thrilled I am that I got to see this movie? Part of the response comes from the excitement of discovery: a writer-director from Saudi Arabia,Haifaa Al Mansour, making her feature debut, and creating a movie that is both entertaining and thought provoking. The hype-meisters of moviedom have made it difficult to use words…
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The Master [2012] ★★★½
“The Master” makes it six-for-six for writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson, who follows “Hard Eight”, “Boogie Nights”, “Magnolia”, “Punch Drunk Love” and “There Will Be Blood” with his most ardent and ambitious movie yet. Anderson keeps a tight lid on his work so that audiences can approach his character-based dramas with a sense of discovery. Fair…
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