John Le Carré has been writing espionage novels for half a century now, and some classic movies have resulted, chief among them The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Little Drummer Girl (1984), The Constant Gardener (2005) and two TV […]
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Magic in the Moonlight (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Woody Allen is at it again, exploring love and death in an engaging romance set in France during the 1920s. For much of the movie love takes a back seat to death, as the story centers on a spiritualist (Emma […]
Continue reading »The Onion Field (1979) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Our twelfth choice is the riveting 1979 crime drama The Onion Field, based upon the book by Joseph Wambaugh. In the 1970s Wambaugh became the dean of Los Angeles-area cop dramas, fueled by his experiences as a beat cop and […]
Continue reading »The Onion Field (1979)
by Barb Lentz. The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these: The African Queen (1951) Cartouche (1962) Laura (1944) The Onion Field (1979) Reckless (1935) I chose The Onion Field because it had the […]
Continue reading »Lucy (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
French filmmaker Luc Besson is audacious. Sometimes that means really good, as in 1994’s Leon: The Professional, which introduced young Natalie Portman to the world. Sometimes it means really, really bad, as in 1997’s The Fifth Element, which is crazy, puerile […]
Continue reading »Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) ☆ ☆
Judging by its astounding 8.8 rating at IMDb (out of 10; it would currently qualify as the 10th – 13th best movie of all time by that parameter), people really, really like this intergalactic misfit superhero movie. I enjoyed it […]
Continue reading »Begin Again (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Once in a while — a great while — a movie comes along that startles me with its execution, that kicks me in the head like a mule and makes me remember just why I love movies in the first […]
Continue reading »The Westerner (1940) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Our eleventh choice for 2014 is this comic western adventure that delves into the mythology of Judge Roy Bean. It is William Wyler’s The Westerner (1940), which stars Gary Cooper as one of the few suspected horse thieves that Roy Bean […]
Continue reading »The Westerner (1940)
by Barb Lentz. The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these: The Dam Busters (1955) House Calls (1978) Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) Rosemary’s Baby (1968) The Westerner (1940) I chose The Westerner because I […]
Continue reading »Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I really liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and this sequel, which occurs some ten years after the events of that film, is even better. The original 1968-1973 quintet ranged from astonishing to cheesy; 20th Century-Fox couldn’t or […]
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