The Illusionist isn’t just the long-awaited second feature from Sylvain Chomet, the French animator who made 2003′s charmingly grotesque, hauntingly comic Triplets of Belleville. It’s also, in a sense, a new film from the great mime artist turned genius director Jacques Tati (Playtime, Mon Oncle), who died in 1982. Adapted from a semi-autobiographical script Tati [...]
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, drama, DVD, Jacques Tati, PG-, Sylvain Chomet, The Illusionist, willMind-bending indie director Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep) proves so capable at crafting crackling action sequences in the $120 million big-screen version of The Green Hornet that it’s a shame star Seth Rogen had to go and ruin the rest of the movie.
Read More action, blu-ray, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, comedy, crime, DVD, Jay Chou, Michel Gondry, PG-13, Seth Rogen, The Green HornetJolene is one of those little independent movies that introduces us to a new star without really being a great film itself. It’s certainly not unwatchable–it’s shot fairly well and it has an engaging enough cast–but it kind of drifts from scene to scene without any strong momentum. The title character is played by Jessica [...]
Read More blu-ray, Chazz Palminteri, drama, DVD, Jessica Chastain, Jolene, Michael Vartan, R, willWith few exceptions, the films that tackle historical periods and their figures best are those that attack their subjects a bit obliquely. When asked to summon a cinematic image of D-Day, for instance, most might think first of Saving Private Ryan, which merely uses Omaha Beach as the visceral prologue to a relatively small-scale (and [...]
Read More Alexandre Desplat, biography, blu-ray, Colin Firth, Danny Cohen, David Seidler, Derek Jacobi, drama, DVD, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, History, King George VI, Lionel Logue, R, The King's Speech, Timothy Spall, Tom HooperI don’t have kids, so I can only imagine what it would feel like to suddenly lose one. Rabbit Hole, a pretty-looking piece of Oscar bait starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, means to show us such pain, but doesn’t wholly succeed.
Read More Aaron Eckhart, blu-ray, David, Dianne Wiest, drama, DVD, John Cameron Mitchell, Miles Teller, Nicole Kidman, PG-13, Rabbit Hole, Sandra OhIn 1940, in the middle of a Siberian winter, a group of prisoners escape a Soviet labour camp. Only barbed wire to cut through, then losing guards in whiteout conditions and pine forest. They dared this with a few survival skills and scraps of food to sustain them, knowing that staying means dying and there [...]
Read More adventure, blu-ray, David Lean, drama, DVD, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Peter Weir, PG-13, Russell Boyd, Saoirse Ronan, The Way BackIf I were Jonathan Swift, I’d be turning over in my grave at how my classic novel about a man encountering a race of people less than six inches tall was turned into a somewhat crude and simple-minded comedy starring Jack Black and featuring giant robots and giant wedgies.
Read More adventure, Amanda Peet, blu-ray, Chris O'Dowd, comedy, David, DVD, Emily Blunt, Fantasy, Gulliver's Travels, Jack Black, Jason Segel, PG-, Rob LettermanThe 7 hit movies based off the famous Harry Potter books are now almost to an end. Harry Potter is now 17 years old, and the protection his mother gave him is now gone for life and some want him dead right away. The famous Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his two best friends, Ron [...]
Read More adventure, blu-ray, Daniel Radcliffe, drama, DVD, Emma Watson, Fantasy, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Helena Bonham Carter, PG-13Country Strong. When I heard the title, I had hopes it was about the Incredible Hulk running for president. Then I heard Gwyneth Paltrow was in it. I still had hope. Then I heard that it was about a disgraced country music star, attempting to revamp her career, perhaps bringing some up-and-comers along for the [...]
Read More blu-ray, Country Strong, drama, DVD, Garrett Hedlund, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leighton Meester, music, PG-13, Tim McGrawWhite Material is the only film by French director Claire Denis I have ever seen. A shock, I know, since I work in a video store. But I admittedly do not possess the kind of abstract, art house-film intellect that can fully grasp what a filmmaker like Denis may be trying to say. What I [...]
Read More blu-ray, Christopher Lambert, Claire Denis, DVD, Isabelle Huppert, White Material