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 […]
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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 Snake Pit (1948) ✰ ✰ ½
The Snake Pit is one of the best-known cinematic portrayals of a psychiatric ward. Based on a novel written by former patient Mary Jane Ward, The Snake Pit charts the hospital course of Virginia Cunningham, (Olivia de Havilland), and the […]
Continue reading »The Big Fix (1978) ✰ ✰ ✰
In the mid- to late 1970s, Richard Dreyfuss was among the hottest — if unlikeliest — actors in Hollywood. He had co-starred in the blockbuster Jaws (1975), become the youngest recipient of the Best Actor Oscar for the comedy The Goodbye […]
Continue reading »The Last Voyage (1960) ✰ ✰ ✰
Filmmakers often strive for realism when they make thrillers to provide a believable foundation for their heroics. Few producer-directors have, however, ever gone to the trouble that Andrew and Virginia Stone did when they made The Last Voyage (1960), for they […]
Continue reading »The Private War of Major Benson (1955) ✰ ✰ ✰
Charlton Heston is an actor usually cast in very serious roles, and it’s because he pokes fun at his commanding, stoic persona in the comedy The Private War of Major Benson (1955) that the film works so well. It’s not that […]
Continue reading »Brute Force (1947) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
There are lots of terrific prison movies and Jules Dassin’s Brute Force (1947) is near the top of the list. It seems best known today for soft-spoken Hume Cronyn’s startlingly nasty turn as a sadistic prison guard, yet the film has […]
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 […]
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