The set-up is intriguing: movie stunt driver Ryan Gosling moonlights as a getaway driver for whoever is willing to pay for his services. He becomes attached to a neighbor woman (Carey Mulligan) with a young son (Kaden Leos) — and […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
The Ides of March (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
George Clooney deserves credit for directing another film that is smart and classy without reducing its melodrama into fights and gun battles, as so many modern movies do. The Ides of March, based upon Beau Willimon’s play “Farragut North,” is […]
Continue reading »The Thing (2011) ✰ ✰ ½
Having loved both the 1951 and 1982 editions of this sci-fi classic (and written a comparison of them in Volume 4, Issue 2), I was dubious about yet another version. Especially after seeing the first preview, which I felt was […]
Continue reading »My Afternoons with Margueritte (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
There are some movies, of which La Tete en Friche stands as a shining example, that could or would never be made in America. With its title transposed into the more prosaic My Afternoons with Margueritte, this French film by Jean […]
Continue reading »Moneyball (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
While not the masterpiece that some critics are making it out to be, Moneyball is a darn good baseball movie, one that eschews traditional diamond-based heroics or comedy for a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the process of how a team is built. […]
Continue reading »Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰
My short review would be: Not enough Crazy, thankfully not very Stupid, could have used more Love. What that translates to is that this dramatic comedy directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa does not quite fulfill its title. Sure, […]
Continue reading »Apollo 18 (2011) ✰ ✰ ½
Pseudo-documentaries with horror aspects have become relatively commonplace since the surprise hit The Blair Witch Project back in 1999, and with good reason: it is seemingly easy to create “lost footage” which, when suddenly, conveniently found, tells some very harrowing tales. […]
Continue reading »Sarah’s Key (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
A journalist in France (Kristin Scott-Thomas) in a rocky marriage becomes obsessed with the fate of a child whose family was arrested, along with thousands of others, during the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup of 1942. What the journalist doesn’t realize is […]
Continue reading »Shark Night 3-D (2011) ✰ ✰
Although Jaws made me afraid to go in any body of water larger than a bathtub, I’ve always loved shark movies, despite so many of them being, well, awful. Shark Night 3-D had possibilities, even beginning with an attack reminiscent of Chrissie’s […]
Continue reading »The Debt (2011) ✰ ✰ 1/2
The philosophical mystery thriller The Debt questions whether the quest for truth should trump a nasty situation in which an expedient lie provided easy answers for the world but left lasting psychological repercussions for three people bound together by their actions. […]
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