The Concert, at least initially, is a goofy farce with a moderately ridiculous premise. A janitor working at the Bolshoi in Moscow, who himself was once its celebrated–and politically discredited–conductor (Alexeï Guskov), intercepts a fax from Paris inviting the orchestra to fill in for the L.A. Philharmonic, which has canceled. He decides to get the [...]
Read More Alexei Guskov, Dmitri Nazarov, drama, DVD, Melanie Laurent, R, The Concert, willRemember back circa 2004, when Jude Law seemed to be in every other movie that came out? Well, this year it’s proven the same with Natalie Portman (Black Swan, No Strings Attached, Your Highness, Thor, etc.). This time, in The Other Woman, she’s playing the second wife of a successful New York lawyer (Scott Cohen) [...]
Read More Ayelet Waldman, blu-ray, Charlie Tahan, drama, DVD, Lisa Kudrow, Natalie Portman, The Other Woman, willThe 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, willJolene 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, willMarwencol is among the more fascinating documentaries I’ve seen in some time, and probably my favorite of still-young 2011. Its focus is Mark Hogancamp, who in 2000 was beaten to within an inch of his life by five young men outside of a bar in Kingston, NY. He awoke from a coma nine days later, [...]
Read More blu-ray, documentary, Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol, willTales From Earthsea is the latest film from Studio Ghibli, the great Japanese animation house, to be released in the States. Not only that, it’s even directed by Miyazaki. But before you get too excited, it’s not the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, et al) but rather his son, Goro Miyazaki. So the big [...]
Read More adventure, animation, DVD, Fantasy, Miyazaki, PG-13, Studio Ghibli, Tales from Earthsea, willI remember the day, back in 2003, when Aron Ralston emerged from the maze of the Canyonlands with his epic story of survival. At the time, I was working at a map store that furnished, among other treasures, the best printed material about the region that money could wrangle. Ralston himself was never a customer [...]
Read More 127 Hours, adventure, Amber Tamblyn, Aron Ralston, blu-ray, Danny Boyle, drama, DVD, James Franco, Kate Mara, R, thriller, willThe genuine criminal exploits of the French gangster Jacques Mesrine are spectacular enough, to seem to encourage exaggeration and sensationalism. His comparison to John Dillinger is apt enough–both robbed banks, escaped from prison on multiple occasions, and became popular romantic rogues–but watching Killer Instinct, the first of two films that chronicle his career, I was [...]
Read More Gerard Depardieu, Jacques Mesrine, Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Vincent Cassell, willThe premise of Never Let Me Go, at least superficially, is not an unfamiliar one. The idea of human clones being bred solely to serve as organ donors has made fertile fodder for dystopian sci-fi nightmares for decades, at least as far back as Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979). But while these films usually explore [...]
Read More Andrew Garfield, blu-ray, Carey Mulligan, drama, DVD, Kazuo Ishiguro, Keira Knightley, Never Let Me Go, R, romance, willIt takes a while for RED get around to explaining its title, but it won’t spoil anything if I tell you it’s an acronym: “Retired, Extremely Dangerous.” This tag is specifically applied to Bruce Willis, who plays former CIA operative Frank Moses, and more generally to the motley (and all-star) assortment of his former cohorts [...]
Read More action, blu-ray, Brian Cox, Bruce Willis, comedy, crime, DVD, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, PG-13, Red, Richard Dreyfuss, Warren Ellis, will