HOPE SPRINGS-- that movies are still being made (if I may paraphrase our 16th president) of the grownups, for the grownups, and by the grownups... and that they have not perished from the earth. Though far from perfect, HOPE SPRINGS is a funny, painful, tender, and smart take on a long-term marriage gone dry, and [...]
It's the movie we've been waiting for all summer: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is the stunning culmination of writer/director Christopher Nolan's BATMAN trilogy. Once again, Christian Bale is perfect as the magnetic and mysterious Bruce Wayne, millionaire orphan hero who finds his identity behind a mask, avenging the random torments humanity is heir to. His [...]
Within the first minute of director Oliver Stone's SAVAGES, we hear Blake Lively's character say in voice over about the man we see sexually grinding her to a pulp, that she has "orgasms," but "he has war-gasms." And we know we're off on a testosterone-fueled rampage where men are at war and women-- even when [...]
In 2010 Mark Wahlberg starred as a tough young boxer in THE FIGHTER. The summer of 2012 finds him knocking the stuffing out of a teddy bear in the box office champ this weekend: TED. The teddy bear movie is a lot raunchier-- and miraculously-- engrossing despite its lunatic premise. In TED, Wahlberg stars as [...]
Today is INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY and I embrace all my sisters the world over! Female empowerment is one of THE pivotal issues of the 21st century and I am about to add fuel to the fire. I have just finished watching one of the most infuriating movies I have ever seen. It’s a 90-minute documentary [...]
I was so angry with Steven Spielberg after I saw this movie. It had a perfectly good premise. A gorgeous horse named Joey and the poor English farm boy (Jeremy Irvine who looks like a young Tom Brady) who tamed and loved him, has to relinquish his pet to the brutality of World War I. [...]
This movie, is quite simply, THE BEST FILM I'VE SEEN IN MONTHS! In the run-off toward the OSCARS, CLOONEY and THE DESCENDANTS are a shoe-in for nominatons. So sit back, relax, and prepare for a Hawaiian vacation-- but not the usual exotic escapade. In THE DESCENDANTS, filmmaker Alexander Payne (SIDEWAYS, ELECTION, ABOUT SCHMIDT ...) with [...]
THE TREE OF LIFE is a visually stunning Christian allegory that seeks to answer the ultimate question: "What is the meaning of life?" Terrence Malick has a history with heaven; he wrote and directed the exquisite 1978 DAYS OF HEAVEN. The images from that film have never left me and neither will THE TREE OF [...]
