This is a tale of the enduring power of love, of a white winged horse, and of a little red-haired girl. In a month when romantic movies are often trite, trivial and predictable, this one […]
review – the lego movie
Have ever seen a really elaborate, professionally set-up dominoes game? You touch one domino and it sets everything in motion – down ridges, around corners, up hills, in multiple streams, with so much happening simultaneously […]
review – whiplash
Like the best independent movies, this one uses a small, tight story about music to tell a universal story about life. On one level, it’s the story of a first year student – a drummer […]
review – jack ryan: shadow recruit
I’ve never been a fan of the late Tom Clancy’s long, involved, sometimes convoluted Cold War thrillers, but somehow his character Jack Ryan has survived thirty years and four major actors (Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, […]
review – august osage county
In some ways, this may be the “feel good” movie of the year because, no matter how dysfunctional your family is, this movie will make you feel good that yours is far less vitriolic and […]
review – the wolf of wall street
This is a three-hour movie. Any movie that needs three hours to tell its story – and intends to tell it in an interesting way — needs to have a lot of either “spectacle” or […]
Review – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Ben Stiller missed the point. Walter Mitty is a meek and mild-mannered person who has heroic daydreams. He doesn’t actually go on those adventures; he just imagines them. Being “a Walter Mitty” means you’re a […]
review – lone survivor
Let’s have a little quiz to get this party started. First question: Four Navy SEALs (Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch) start out on a mission in Afghanistan. How many return? (Hint: see […]
review – saving mr. banks
If you were to ask those who know movies to make a list of the most enjoyable musical films, with the most loved songs, ever, “Mary Poppins” — with music and lyrics by Richard and […]
review – american hustle
What we have here are two small-time dreamers trying to reinvent themselves. Because everybody hustles. She’s Sydney Prosser (Adams) from New Mexico; he’s Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) from the Bronx; they meet at a pool party, […]
Review – Frozen
This Disney film comes not from Pixar, but from Walt Disney Animation Studios and in style, story, and sensibility, this looks like classic Disney moviemaking. Somehow, for reasons I can’t define, it just feels different […]
review – philomena
As a director, Stephen Frears knows how to find the heart, the humanity, and the humor in situations and create movies that tell small stories in wonderfully intelligent ways. He did it in “Dirty Pretty […]
Review – Nebraska
So what we have here is a beautifully-photographed movie – in black and white – with a wonderfully-underwritten performance at its center – telling a story of ordinary days filled with ordinary people who do […]
Review – The Book Thief
This movie was shot by Florian Ballhaus (he also shot “The Devil Wears Prada”) and his work here is so perfect and polished, it’s initially distracting. It’s 1939 in Germany, a time of dark desperation, […]
Review – The Counselor
Halfway through this almost two-hour movie, the Counselor (Fassbender) asks Westray (Pitt): “What happens next?” A better question would have been: “What’s happened so far?” The answer to both: “It’s difficult to determine.” If you’ve […]
Review – All Is Lost
In some ways, this is a perfect title. Here is what will be “lost” if you decide to see this movie: your time, the price of admission, the cost of transportation to get there, any […]
Review – The Fifth Estate
“Man is least himself when he talks as his own person,” Julian Assange (Cumberbatch) says early in this film. “But if you give him a mask, he will tell you the truth. …if we could […]
Review – 12 Years A Slave
This is such a difficult story to watch. It’s violent, sadistic, unspeakably cruel. There is such an all-pervasive sense of hate surrounded by an unmitigated feeling of helplessness. It may be an educational film; it […]
50 Shades of Nope
Christian Grey is going to require some re-casting as cable TV heartthrob Charlie Hunnam has apparently backed out of playing the BDSM obsessed lead character from the hit novel by E.L. James. While we’ll probably […]
Captain Kirk Set For ‘Horrible Bosses 2’
Dammit Jim, he’s an actor! And, the new face of Captain Kirk is now set to be a boss much closer to home than his usual position commanding a space ship out on the final […]
Another Pass On ‘Stretch Armstrong’
Relativity Media seems to have bounced ‘Stretch Armstrong’ back to the “no” pile. The only question left in my mind is: “why was this even considered in the first place?” The devoted reader might notice […]
‘Gravity’ 3D Puts 35+ Demo In Theater Seats
Warner’s ‘Gravity’ keeps its hot streak alive as more and more revenue comes in from 3D ticket sales. It’s interesting to note that the Warner exec in the Variety article attributed the rise in box […]
‘Gravity’ Crushes With Record Open
Warner’s latest popcorn muncher opened with a huge $55 Million dollar take on its debut weekend. 3D versions of the film were helping to drive a lot of the numbers with premium ticket prices, but […]
‘Runner Runner’ Flops
This hardly seems remarkable or even noteworthy, save for the continuing inability of the executive class to distinguish between correlation and causation. Here, we’ve got the ‘star-power’ of Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck seemingly unable […]
review – ‘don jon’
Joseph Gordon Levitt is arguably one of the best actors of his generation. Scarlett Johansson started out at a very young age displaying huge talent. Now he and she are together in a movie with […]
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 