No matter what anyone tells you, AMERICAN HUSTLE is one of THE best movies of the year. And it was shot in Boston (standing in for New Jersey)-- so it was a kick to see the gilded Wang Theater lobby and environs decked out as a swank gambling hall for one of the film's climactic [...]
I like THE HUNGER GAMES: series, and the second installment, CATCHING FIRE--despite a colleague's calling it "a long slog"--absolutely held me. Once again, the charismatic Jennifer Lawrence as the reluctant firebrand Katniss Everdeen continues to rebel against the capitol. Having out-witted the powers that be in the first Hunger Games--a TV spectacle in which children [...]
What is it about Sandra Bullock and one-word titles that place her at the mercy of out of control modes of transport? In GRAVITY the vehicle is a space "bus" of sorts, thousands of light years away from the earthbound thrills of the movie that put her on the map--SPEED. Written and directed by Alfonso [...]
PRISONERS is one of the best films I've seen at the movies in weeks. It pops like a kernel in a myriad ways--full of nooks and crannies, threatening & thrilling, sad & shocking, and just plain entertaining. I followed this thriller about two little girls who disappear on Thanksgiving Day-- right down a very dark [...]
I have just seen the first OSCAR WORTHY performance by an actress this year-- or any year: Cate Blanchett in BLUE JASMINE--Woody's latest and absolutely one of his best films, ever. It's become a cliche that writer/director Woody Allen's work had hit the doldrums critically for a bit, and lately, everything he's doing has been [...]
I've yet to see THE WOLVERINE and believe I am the LONE CRITIC who loved THE LONE RANGER. Here's the best & worst of the rest so far: 20 FEET FROM STARDOM--This revealing, heartbreaking documentary charts the careers, hopes, dreams, disappointments of the back-up singers who literally stand inches away from center stage-the voices behind [...]
Why IS Oscar winner Halle Berry in this hackneyed hunk of horror? I know it's a slow time of year, when all the worst films are released-- some worse than others. I went hoping for the best and while not the worst (they could have had the gorgeous Ms. Berry running around in her underwear, [...]
Here's another one: my new :30 Second Review of ARGO! If you don't have time to read my FULL TEXT REVIEW and want the bottom line fast, with VIDEO-- check out Joyce's :30 Second Review! What do you think?
Some things never get old--and Bruce Willis as John McClane is one of them. For the fifth time, A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD brings the relentless NYPD hero back -- this time in geri-action-- but the formula still works. Once again, it's John McClane against a world of bad guys; we know who's going [...]
I set my alarm (as a late riser, I'm always on L.A. time) and was up at the crack of 8:30 to hear Emma Stone and this year's Oscar Host Seth MacFarlane announce the nominations-- when I was blown out of my breakfast nook by the stupefying news that Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck were [...]
