Some movies are essentially plays staged on film, and Roman Polanski’s version of Carnage certainly qualifies. Its story concerns two pairs of parents who meet to discuss one child’s bullying of another. The drama (and some comedy) plays out in a […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
Contraband (2012) ✰ ✰ ½
Mark Wahlberg has impressively progressed from a teenaged troublemaker to a polished actor. He’ll never be an Olivier, but Wahlberg possesses the intensity and sincerity to put across tough, physical roles that also require streetwise smarts. He is a perfect […]
Continue reading »The Adventures of Tintin (2011) ✰ ✰
Steven Spielberg has long been a fan of the internationally popular Belgian / French comic strip “The Adventures of Tintin,” and finally has directed a movie adaptation of the same name. It is fast-paced, almost absurdly energetic, with enough action, […]
Continue reading »The Artist (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
Offbeat films are often offbeat simply to attract attention (and, at this time of the year, awards), and The Artist is certainly offbeat. Not only is it (mostly) silent, but it’s filmed in black and white. Those facts are bound to […]
Continue reading »A Dangerous Method (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
I didn’t do well in my college psychology class, so I don’t know the real history involving psychoanalysis and its early progenitors, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, et al. David Cronenberg has made A Dangerous Method, which depicts how Freud (Viggo […]
Continue reading »Young Adult (2011) ✰ ✰ ½
If cinema was like reality television, in the sense that everyone eventually would have the opportunity to star in their very own movie just being themselves, then Young Adult would, I think, be typical of what would be made. Jason Reitman’s […]
Continue reading »The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
Short review: I like the original better. Long review: David Fincher’s take on the first of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling books is intense and gruesome, which pertains to both violence and sex; particularly violent sex. Yet Fincher’s film is also picturesque […]
Continue reading »The Darkest Hour (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
Yet another 2011 alien invasion film (there have been at least eight that feature aliens or depict their invasion of Earth), The Darkest Hour is a tidy little thriller set in Russia that intelligently predicts what a actual invasion might entail. […]
Continue reading »War Horse (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
It would be relatively easy to wring sentiment from a story about a horse and the young man who raises him, and War Horse certainly exploits that relationship about as fully as one would expect. Yet the film is so much […]
Continue reading »We Bought a Zoo (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
While most of us would never have the gumption, the wherewithal or the ability to try to bring a failed zoo back to life, it’s a neat dream, and it’s very cool that somebody actually did it, and now there’s […]
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