If the primary goal of We Need to Talk About Kevin was to incite the audience to want to cheer when a child is thrown across the room by his mom, then mission accomplished. Never before have I seen such an unlikable character on the screen as that of the title character Kevin. Whether it …
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Steven Soderbergh could have made the female Bourne movie. I’m afraid Joe Wright beat him to that with 2011’s Hanna. Granted, Hanna was an adolescent girl set in a bizarre modern day fairy tale. Haywire replaces the girl with a woman MMA fighter and trades the fairy tale for mostly mundane exposition. Mallory Kane (Gina …
I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone like Jeff (Jason Segel). A thirty years old, smoking pot, living in his mom’s basement, waiting for his destiny to come to him and magically control his life. I also didn’t expect to like Jeff, Who Lives at Home as much as I did. Jeff finds great significance …
30+ years ago the tech startup out of a garage was made legendary thanks to two Steves – Jobs and Wozniak. Today’s version may be best summed up in indie video game developers. And while there is much to romanticize about the “two guys in a garage” mythology, Indie Game: The Movie does its fair …
Hollywood should thank George Bush for the war in Iraq. I think the wars there alone have provided no shortage of feature length films and documentaries – some them are even above average. Burn. The temptation is too great for most to politicize the war, no matter their political leanings. Instead of telling good stories …
If ever there was a film where I felt like I should have had a hard time staying awake, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy would be it. A “slow burn” if ever there was one. Scratch that. It’s a slow burn hitching a ride on a tortoise. The Cold War is on and there is a …
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Driving home a point in storytelling is tricky. For instance, you can go the route of a film like Fireproof which makes no attempt at subtlety. The message is front and center, with the story taking a backseat. And while Lars von Trier’s Melancholia does not preach, it also makes no attempt to hide its …
Dustin Hoffman is short. He’s really short. In Kramer vs. Kramer he has a six year old son and it looks as though his son will be hovering over dad within a year max. Too bad height doesn’t determine one’s acting chops. Otherwise I’d be a decent actor. Hoffman puts on one of his finest …
Activist documentaries are quite the rage these days. Everyone has their cause and some think that cause is worth documenting as a movie. Most of these movies are of little interest to me. For example, If a Tree Falls was nominated for an Oscar in the best documentary category and I was convinced that if …
Chasing down a mystery as the centerpiece of a documentary is tricky. On the one hand, the thrill of the chase should make for a compelling story. On the other hand, solving the mystery may turn out to be a let down if the end result is far less mysterious than it originally seemed. Resurrect …
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