I didn’t know what to expect from Rob Marshall’s new musical Into the Woods; I was not familiar with the play at all, to the point that I had no idea it conglomerated some of Grimm’s fairy tales into a […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
Selma (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆
The big flap regarding Selma was its failure to secure a slew of Oscar nominations, which it was expected to do. Selma is certainly the type of film — an historical drama addressing race relations, focusing on one particular historical personage — […]
Continue reading »Foxcatcher (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
I had seen the preview for this months ago, then learned that Steve Carell was in it. Where was he, I wondered, for I did not recognize him. Carell underwent a couple of hours a day in the makeup chair […]
Continue reading »The Imitation Game (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
The Imitation Game chronicles the history of how the British were able, finally, to decode the legendary “Enigma” coding machine during World War II. This story has been told before, in Enigma (2001), which was rather dull and confusing. This tale is […]
Continue reading »Annie (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
On first blush, Annie would not seem to interest me very much. But I liked the preview, which promised energy and vitality; the performers, who are talented and likable; and an updated view of an old-fashioned source. I am not much […]
Continue reading »Wild (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Great movies surface during awards season, but my cynical side also notes that actors often take roles that they believe or hope will surface during awards season to capture those very awards. Reese Witherspoon’s decision to make Wild seems to me […]
Continue reading »The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
I’ve liked the first two entrants in the “Hobbit” trilogy, more so than the three “Lord of the Rings” movies, but this third Hobbit movie — serving as the bridge between the two series — is disappointing to me because […]
Continue reading »Unbroken (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2
The recent death of Louis Zamperini, the subject of Unbroken, adds a poignancy to its release that both enhances and undermines Angelina Jolie’s chronicle of his survival. On one hand, Unbroken, based on Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling account of Zamperini’s tremendous […]
Continue reading »The Theory of Everything (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆
I like to judge movies according to how well I believe they have fulfilled their ambition. Sure, it’s subjective, but what approach isn’t? You can tell that some films are satisfied to entertain, to amuse, to frighten, to tell a […]
Continue reading »St. Vincent (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆
St. Vincent is one strange movie. It centers on a deeply troubled man, Vincent MacKenna (Bill Murray) whose isolated life of drudgery is interrupted by the arrival of new neighbors — and a second chance. The neighbor kid, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), […]
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