NOW is the time when the most "important" movies of the season are released before the end of the year in order to qualify for Oscars. By "important" I mean big budgets, big stars, big filmmakers, big themes. I have been waiting for something really BIG. It didn't turn out to be Daniel Day-Lewis in [...]
What's most extraordinary about KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is not that it was made by the masterful Martin Scorsese who began bringing it into focus pre-pandemic. Nor that it features one of Leonardo DiCaprio's most subtly communicative performances in a career of compelling, wildly varied, and complex roles. Or that it delivers a central [...]
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A FREE ADVANCE SCREENING OF APPLE TV+ AND PARAMOUNT PICTURES RELEASE: "KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON" Tuesday, October 17th at AMC Boston Common at 7:00 p.m Click here to RSVP and claim tickets: https://gofobo.com/VDTBA40619 Synopsis: Killers of the Flower Moon" is an epic western crime saga, where real love [...]
ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD is easily THE film of the summer, the year thus far, and maybe the decade. It's a climactic showstopper of an achievement, Quentin Tarantino's avowed penultimate 9th movie, a full-to-bursting valentine to movie-making and movie stars, his native Los Angeles, and an industry mirroring the turbulence of a culture [...]
What an intense week. I cannot write anything else before expressing how heartbroken I was to learn that brilliant actor Alan Rickman and musical icon David Bowie died--both Londoners, both at age 69 of cancer. Bowie was an artistic visionary and sonic adventurer who cut an endlessly original and challenging swathe through the musical landscape. We find him [...]
A flurry of fine films has just descended on the big screen in the last few weeks, almost too many to take in; but I did my best and here are my TOP FIVE FILMS of the year, some of which aren't due out until Christmas! 1) THE REVENANT-- A stunning 156 minute saga by award-winning Mexican director Alejandro G. Inarritu (BIRDMAN) starring Leonardo DiCaprio [...]
THE CRITICS HAVE SPOKEN!! This weekend, the two Boston film critics groups to which I belong announced their 2015 year end awards! So whose picks are closest to yours? Read all the way to the bottom and see if it's MAD MAX or SPOTLIGHT-- and all the rest. Peruse the results and let me know what you think! The [...]
The race is ON! Chris "Thor" Hemsworth helped hammer home the 86th Oscar nominations with Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and the results are pretty much as I expected: AMERICAN HUSTLE and GRAVITY tied for most nominations--10 each, followed by 12 YEARS A SLAVE with 9! What I'm delighted about? Matthew McConaughey. It's his year [...]
I thought my eyes would pop out of my head! The WOLF OF WALL STREET left me howling, jaw on the floor, more than once. This fantastically over the top, true story of 8o's-style greed from Martin Scorsese, plays like CALIGULA on Wall Street, laced with "coke, testosterone, and bodily fluids." Leonardo DiCaprio grabs and [...]
Now THIS excites me. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET due out this November!
