“The Hangover” series has turned out to be a lot like the titular post-inebriation state. There was an initial burst of wild fun that has given way to hours of pain and suffering that makes you wonder if the fun part was worth it in the first place. It is clear now that the first […]
Review: “The Hangover Part III” Read More »
Derek Cianfrance’s sprawling, epic “The Place Beyond the Pines” is Capital-A Ambitious filmmaking of proportions we haven’t encountered in a project with Hollywood stars since “The Tree of Life” a few years back. Well, perhaps that’s an overstatement—Cianfrance’s focus is smaller than Terrence Malick’s, which amounted to no less than the breadth of Creation—but still,
Review: “The Place Beyond the Pines” Read More »
David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” sets itself up for disappointment by initially adopting the appearance of a sophisticated movie that it’s not. The premise–two mentally ill people, he bipolar and she coping with the death of her husband, fall in love despite their difficulties with day-to-day life–suggests that the film is the rare romantic-comedy
Review: “Silver Linings Playbook” Read More »
“The Words” is a story within a story within a story, and only one of these offers anything that resembles a conclusion. Given writer/directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal’s apparent love of plot–what other Hollywood filmmakers have recently implemented a three-layered structure?–the movie’s abrupt, mildly confusing ending seems auspicious at first. But upon reflection, it
Review: “The Words” Read More »
Since its inception in the early 1990s with Robert Rodriguez’ “El Mariachi,” the do-it-yourself filmmaking movement has been roundly celebrated by the entertainment media. Indeed, micro-budget films that have blossomed into full-fledged Hollywood hits, from “The Blair Witch Project” to “Napoleon Dynamite,” offer compelling narratives of the little guy seizing upon the promise of capitalism,
Review: “Hit & Run” Read More »
