I was unaware of how popular this series of Orson Scott Card books has been over the years — enough to spawn a total of thirteen titles — but the premise seems like a natural for the movies. At least […]
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Gravity (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
I’ve been mourning the dearth of quality science-fiction for a long time. Somewhere along the line fantasy became more popular than science, special effects began to overwhelm narrative and personal melodrama became standard storytelling currency. I yearn for the days […]
Continue reading »Don Jon (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆
I have to admit that I was surprised by the content of this new movie written and directed by lead actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Ostensibly it is a romantic comedy with strong sexual content; in reality (in my opinion, of course) […]
Continue reading »Captain Phillips (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Director Paul Greengrass specializes in suspense with real-world ramifications and meaning. Sometimes his subjects are more action-oriented and symbolic in nature (the Jason Bourne films or Green Zone) while others are more historical and fact-based (Bloody Sunday, United 93 and this […]
Continue reading »Prisoners (2013) ☆ ☆ 1/2
I didn’t write a single review in October, and that was due to Prisoners, a movie which I am still internally debating. On the one hand, it is a suspenseful thriller, dealing with the mysterious disappearances of two children, and […]
Continue reading »The Family (2013) ☆ ☆
We might as well get accustomed to the notion that Robert De Niro’s career has entered a nostalgic phase. The Family casts De Niro as a former gangster clearly modeled on his Goodfellas persona; in fact, the film literally references that earlier […]
Continue reading »Enough Said (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆
This quirky romantic comedy is James Gandolfini’s next-to-last film (he had also completed Animal Rescue, which is in post-production), and it presents him in a very flattering light. He is a lonely divorcee who begins a romance with lonely masseuse […]
Continue reading »We’re the Millers (2013) ☆ 1/2
Yet another raunchy comedy in which everyone seems to be taking or dealing drugs, swearing like sailors, stripping for a living or willing to do anything for money. The only interest this movie held for me was the casting of […]
Continue reading »Blue Jasmine (2013) ☆ ☆ 1/2
I’m not exactly sure what to make of Woody Allen’s newest movie. It is a pointedly sharp character study of a woman (the Jasmine of the title, Cate Blanchett) who is in desperate need of counseling, therapy, attention and money. […]
Continue reading »The World’s End (2013) ☆ ☆
This British mix of comedy, nostalgia, science-fiction and action is exactly that: a mixed bag. It concerns a reunion of sorts of five now middle-aged friends trying to re-enact a pub crawl, concluding at the title establishment. Things go wrong […]
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