BOTTLE SHOCK is a pleasant enough film well served by an excellent cast that amplifies the script’s virtues while minimizing its flaws. Based on the true story of a 1976 blind wine tasting that shook the world, it brings together a perfect storm of underdogs who, each hoping to prove something to themselves and to… Read More »
DUCK
DUCK is a bittersweet little film that charts an uneven course between comedy and drama. When it works, it is heartbreaking and heartwarming, when it doesn’t, it’s a shame. It doesn’t fit into any neat category, which might explain its limited theatrical release in 2007, but it’s that very thing that makes it a bright… Read More »
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
At the very start of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, Anna Wintour, Editor-in Chief of Vogue, and arbiter of what is and what is not fashion in an industry worth serious millions of dollars annually, opines that people who sneer at fashion are actually afraid of it. Beneath her immaculately sculpted and highlighted bob, perfectly applied make-up,… Read More »
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU
The particular brand of unhinged paranoia of which Phillip K. Dick was a master, and then some, gets a respectful treatment in THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, based on one of Dick’s short stories. It takes the warm and fuzzy notion that someone or something is keeping the universe creaking along according to a plan, as opposed… Read More »
DIANA
DIANA, the unnecessary tale of the Princess of Wales last true love, is a vapid, banal, and superficial exercise in cheap voyeurism. The object of Dianas affections, heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan, is portrayed as a man who, above all, cherished his privacy and his profession, so much so that Dianas celebrity status made their… Read More »
SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY
The irresistible thing about SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY is how it takes the mystery of original vision and workings of the imagination behind it, effervescent and ineffable qualities, and translates them successfully into the confines of a documentary. That is not the only reason to see Sydney Pollack’s first crack at a documentary, but it… Read More »
THE QUEEN — DVD
There are some of us who knew in the first five minutes of THE QUEEN that at the very least Helen Mirren in the title role of Queen Elizabeth II would be nominated for every acting award out there. The wistful yet unselfconsciously regal way in which she discuses the election with the artist painting… Read More »
SICKO — DVD
Click here to listen to Michael Moore interviewed for BOWLING FOR COUMBINE.My favorite moment in Michael Moore’s SICKO is one that had nothing to do with Moore directly. He merely recounts the story. A man unhappy with having his claim rejected by his insurance provider informed said provider that Moore’s new documentary project was an… Read More »
FLAWLESS
FLAWLESS is a classy, smart, and fiendishly sly piece of filmmaking that keeps the audience on the edge of its seat. There are herrings aplenty here, red and other, courtesy of writer Edward Andersen, who has a knack for subverting audience expectations by neatly playing into them. Cool and crisp direction by Michael Radford takes… Read More »
LEATHERHEADS
There are some films that set you to pondering. What is the meaning of life? What is my role in the human comedy? The question that LEATHERHEADS inspires is much less esoteric. During the bumpy homage to IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, HIS GIRL FRIDAY, and MEET JOHN DOE, among others, I found myself wondering what… Read More »