GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY One of the most critically and commercially successful films of 2014, Marvel Studios’ GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY relays the adventures of a disparate group of intergalactic misfits, on the run […]
review – a walk among the tombstones
Liam Neeson is a kind of likeable “everyman.” Every year, in recent times, he makes a small, tight action movie in which he rescues himself, his wife, his daughter — or some combination — from […]
review – ‘honeymoon’
First time director Leigh Janiak has made herself a tight little indie horror film. Debuting earlier this year at SXSW, ‘Honeymoon’ features Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones) and Harry Treadaway leading a familiar, ‘cabin in […]
The Look of “Fargo”
Inspired by the Coen brothers’ 1996 film of the same name, FARGO is an Emmy® Award-winning U.S. comedy drama series about a hapless insurance salesman in northern Minnesota who gets drawn into a world […]
review – the drop
This is the patient person’s crime thriller. It’s slow, deliberate, measured, fragmented in its approach. Characters emerge from the shadows, surrounded by silences. Everything starts in a reflection. The film takes its time to set […]
review – the skeleton twins
This is a poignant, often painful story of a brother and a sister whose rapport is real and lovingly abrasive. It’s a movie for everyone who has ever been part of a family. Milo (Bill […]
review – the identical
I hate to see this happen: a faith-based organization invests in a movie as a way to produce revenue and/or converts for their cause – and, in this case, most likely does neither. This may […]
review – chef
The story here is thin, the comedy is gentle; there are times when you wonder what this movie is really all about, but its heart is always in the right place. If you’re looking for […]
review – the november man
What a disjointed disappointing disaster of a movie. The plot is a confusing patchwork of political nonsense. The dialog lapses often into trite clichés. The editing is choppy, the acting is mediocre, the pacing is […]
review – the expendables 3
In a Sylvester Stallone movie, you never need to ask: Is the plot plausible? Is the dialog coherent? Are the ideas fresh? The answers: of course not. But if you were to ask: Is this […]
review – the hundred foot journey
The trailer will tell you exactly where this movie is going – and it pretty much goes there – but with warmth and humor and lots of special moments along the way. This is a […]
review – lucy
This movie is based on an intriguing and fairly well-known premise: humans use only about ten percent of their brains. What would happen if an ordinary person were able to access much more? Well…first a […]
review – boyhood
For those old enough to remember the 1960’s this may remind them of a classic Kodak commercial from those days. A father had sent to Kodak pictures he had taken of his young daughter named […]
review – dawn of the planet of the apes
When the final credits ended, there were just two of us in the theatre and we ended up leaving together. “So, what did you think of the movie?” he asked me. “It was OK,” I […]
review – life itself
This is a difficult movie to watch because it’s more about Roger Ebert, the very sick man, than it’s about Roger Ebert, the very popular movie critic. For continuity, it’s uses lots of sequences from […]
review – transformers: age of extinction
As a director, Michael Bay is a madman; he creates movies on speed. They never lack for over-the-top action, but they almost always lack a beating heart. Case in point: this one. It’s about fourteen […]
review – begin again
John Carney doesn’t just make movies where music is part of the story. He makes movies where you need to pay as much attention to the lyrics as you do to the dialog because the […]
review – edge of tomorrow
Here’s what’s surprising about this movie: it’s kind of fun in a goofy, self-deprecating way. Emily Blunt is all wide-eyed, incredulous and confident and she makes Tom Cruise more likeable and human; together they make […]
review – the fault in our stars
Let’s take a two-hour break from “the summer of sameness.” Let’s forget about reptilian behemoths, arachnid-bitten web-slingers, and razor-clawed time-travelers making the world safe for computer effects. Let’s spend time with people we care about, […]
review – maleficent
In tone and mood, this is closer to “Pan’s Labyrinth” than to “Peter Pan,” closer to the fairy tales as originally told by The Brothers Grimm than to the lighter Disney versions. Consider this “Sleeping […]
review – million dollar arm
This movie has “my kind of movie” written all over it. It was directed by Craig Gillespie who directed one of my favorite movies in recent times, “Lars and the Real Girl.” It was written […]
review – a million ways to die in the west
Hidden inside a slightly-stoned bear, Seth MacFarlane is a very funny guy. But on a big stage as himself (The Academy Awards) or on a big screen as a cowardly cowboy (this movie), he’s not […]
review – the other woman
Nick Cassavetes is back, but you can put away the Kleenex. After flushing your tear-ducts in “The Notebook” and forcing you to face heart-wrenching decisions in “My Sister’s Keeper,” Cassavetes has directed a comedy. There’s […]
review – fading gigolo
This movie is a combination of three stories – one preposterous, one scary, one completely unnecessary. First, the preposterous: characters played by Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara have to pay for sex with a character […]
review – transcendence
This may be a clear idea told in the most confusing way possible. Or it may be a muddled idea told in a way that exposes its lack of clarity. Or it may be an […]
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 