There have been at least a handful of cinematic versions of the comic crime novels of Donald E. Westlake (writing as Richard Stark). All of the previous versions, I believe, have changed the name of the protagonist Parker, until this […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
Warm Bodies (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
The preview intrigued me, and I am happy to report that the movie is even better than I expected. I’m talking about Warm Bodies, the zombie-themed romantic comedy scripted and directed by Jonathan Levine. It posits that the apocalypse has […]
Continue reading »Movie 43 (2013) 1/2
What a waste. Quite literally, in one segment. That’s why calling Movie 43 a piece of crap is apropos. If this junk is what movie humor has evolved to, then the future is frightening, both for the format, and for audiences […]
Continue reading »Broken City (2013) ☆ ☆ 1/2
A strong cast helps put across what is a somewhat muddled political drama. Mark Wahlberg stars as a former NYC cop pushed off the force due to his role in a shooting (for which he is publicly exonerated). Seven years […]
Continue reading »Zero Dark Thirty (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to The Hurt Locker is a tough, brutal, violent, somber, contemporary war drama that examines how we have fought the war on terror in the Middle East, and, eventually, caught Osama bin Laden. It has to be tough, […]
Continue reading »Life of Pi (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
I saw the preview for this movie so many times that I actually delayed seeing the movie until today. I shouldn’t have waited; Life of Pi is an amazing movie in many ways and definitely worth seeing. It is philosophically ambiguous, […]
Continue reading »The Last Stand (2013) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, out of politics and up on the big screen where he belongs. Of course, one can read political meanings into this story of a tough Arizona sheriff determined to prevent a drug cartel kingpin (the […]
Continue reading »Promised Land (2012) ☆ ☆
Some movies that address controversial issues or situations tend to dance around the details of their stories, afraid of offending one side or the other. When this happens those movies never quite pack the punch that they promise. Such is […]
Continue reading »The Impossible (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Making a movie about one of the most horrific natural disasters in human history is undoubtedly a daunting task, yet Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona has tackled it and produced a film that is, by turns, harrowing, touching, devastating and […]
Continue reading »Django Unchained (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Even after seeing Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie I still have misgivings about it, but I cannot deny that it is something special. Like most of Tarantino’s films it fudges genre conventions, contains glaring anachronisms (particularly involving music), has gorgeous dialogue, […]
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