John le Carré writes espionage stories in which the action is cerebral and the suspense comes from a keen observation of each protagonist’s character. Thus, the stakes in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR involve much more than the list of names that will topple those in power. They involve the people caught up in the intrigue… Read More »
JANE GOT A GUN
JANE GOT A GUN tries to evoke Leone (check the duster Jane sports) and Ford (check the mesas that surround her), but without the intensity of the former, or the adventure of the latter. What’s left is a stereopticon of a post-modern morality tale that can’t overcome its own inertia.
MORTDECAI is DOA
Sneaking into theaters without benefit of a press screening, MORTDECAI is a tragically unfunny attempt at lighthearted comedy. Based on the novel Don’t Point that That Thing at Me” by Kyril Bongfiglio, its efforts at whimsy fall flat, while its attempts to attain the quirky begin and end with the waxy curls of Johnny Depp’s… Read More »
AMELIA
Of late, Hilary Swank gives only two kinds of performances, award-winning, and duds. AMELIA, a prestige effort from Mira Nair, alas, delivers the latter. To be fair, she and everyone else concerned are not working from a script, but rather from a scenario thrown together with broad strokes and characters conceived as cardboard cut-outs of… Read More »
MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, THE
Two men, each determined to cross the border from Kuwait into Iraq for reasons they find compelling to themselves, wait with some impatience to get going. One is a man whose consciousness has been expanded beyond the quotidienne, and the other, a man whose consciousness has been contracted to the confines of his own psyche… Read More »
GHOST WRITER, THE
In THE GHOST WRITER, Roman Polanski takes Robert Harris novel of the same name and gives it his own unique stamp. The tale is the classic one of an innocent man suddenly finding himself in the midst of intrigue and danger not of his making, The ominous overtones are pure Polanski. The innocent, who is… Read More »
HAYWIRE
Its interesting that the unsmiling, kick-ass heroine of HAYWIRE, Mallory, Mal for short, doesnt go directly to the one move uniquely efficient in taking down a male combatant. It speaks, no doubt, to her sense of honor and her belief in a fair fight. A belief that people challenge at their own risk to their… Read More »
STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES
I suppose that it is theoretically possible for the latest installment of the STAR WARS saga, ATTACK OF THE CLONES, to have been worse than THE PHANTOM MENACE, but fortunately, we are spared the spectacle of what that might have been like. CLONES is certainly no masterpiece, but it is head, shoulders, and light saber better… Read More »
BIG FISH
BIG FISH may be Tim Burtons most magical film to date. Paradoxically, its also one rooted firmly in reality, a la ED WOOD. Dont let that throw you. This is a landscape of the imagination as potent as anything Burton conjured up with EDWARD SCISSORHANDS or THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. There is a giant named… Read More »
ROBOTS
It is interesting to note that the commercials currently running for ROBOTS fail to take advantage of the best features of the film. Sure, we hear the celebrity voices and see the characters they voice to their schtick, with Robin Williams, in point of fact, its pretty much all schtick, but we dont get a… Read More »