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, […]
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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 »Under the Volcano (1984) ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Albert Finney stars as British diplomat Geoffrey Firmin in John Huston’s adaptation of Malcolm Lowry’s novel Under the Volcano. Firmin has a problem with alcohol and his wife has left him in Mexico prior to World War II. His is […]
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 »Downhill Racer (1969) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Michael Ritchie’s first feature film, Downhill Racer, stars Robert Redford as an American downhill skier emerging on the international scene. He joins the team when a member is injured and immediately begins to perform well. Other members of the team […]
Continue reading »Seven Days in May (1964) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
As trenchant political thrillers go, Seven Days in May (1964) is at or near the top of the list. John Frankenheimer’s movie, based upon the bestselling novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, is an engrossing tale of treachery […]
Continue reading »The Big Country (1958) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Everything about William Wyler’s 1958 western The Big Country is B-I-G. The story tells of sea captain Gregory Peck’s arrival in the magnificent grandeur of the old West to marry firebrand Carroll Baker but instead discovers feelings for schoolmarm Jean Simmons. […]
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