The Piano
RATING: (4 STARS) If you subscribe to the notion that the greatest movies transport you to a place you’ve never been and introduce you to people you’ve never known, The Piano is one of the greatest movies. Not your m.o.? Fine, but anyone who loves rousing melodramas, who appreciates impeccable acting, or who swoons over […]
Unstoppable Review
Click here to read my original Unstoppable review from 2010. RATING: (4 STARS) Unstoppable is the last film from director Tony Scott, and it’s unquestionably one of his very best. In a time now when all action movies seem to be required to run two and a half hours or so, this is the ultimate […]
Deja Vu Review
RATING: (4 STARS) It takes Deja Vu a long time to get where it’s going, but once it’s driving down a New Orleans highway with one eye in the present and one eye three days in the past, you’re all the way in. This is by far Tony Scott’s highest-concept film ever, and while I’m […]
Crimson Tide Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Tony Scott’s 1995 submarine film has one of the most clever titles in movie history. It most obviously references the name of the ship where most of the film’s action takes place – the U.S.S. Alabama. Crimson is a color that also evokes imagery from the Soviet Union, and while Crimson Tide […]
True Romance Review
RATING: (4 STARS) True Romance is a fever dream. Who knew that combining the sensibilities of Quentin Tarantino the writer with those of Tony Scott the director would result in something that most closely resembles a 70s Terrence Malick movie? And what if that movie had one of the strongest, deepest casts of any movie […]
Beverly Hills Cop Review
RATING: (4 STARS) I’m not sure there’s ever been a clearer case a film being carried by the charisma of its star than Beverly Hills Cop. This is Eddie Murphy’s film from beginning to end – something that sort of came about by accident. Originally conceived of and written as a dark and gritty Sylvester […]
The Hateful Eight Review
RATING: (4 STARS) There was some blood spilled at a Wyoming haberdashery some time after the Civil War. Well, a fictional Wyoming haberdashery, but still … boy, there was some blood. It’s the time and place of Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film, the very appropriately titled The Hateful Eight. The blood is nothing new in a […]
A Star Is Born (2018) Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Though A Star Is Born has been made now four times, the 2018 version directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Cooper and Lady Gaga (in her first major film performance), is my first experience with these story beats. Of course, they’re not unfamiliar ones. It doesn’t take intimate familiarity with the Janet […]
Rushmore Review
RATING: (4 STARS) With Rushmore, writer/director Wes Anderson beelines it out of Wes Andersonville toward a place that resembles the world you and I inhabit. In Wes Andersonville, individuals are quirky beyond recognition—sometimes overwritten into oblivion. Rushmore‘s lead character, Max Fischer, is a proud citizen of Wes Andersonville, but unlike the director’s other films, this […]
mother! Review
RATING: (4 STARS) *NOTE: I believe this film is best enjoyed without knowing much at all going in. I avoided any heavy spoilers in this review, but still, if you haven’t seen mother!, proceed with caution. The insanity-by-obsession that defines every Darren Aronofsky film to date — from Ellen Burstyn’s tragic television watching in Requiem […]
Jackie Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Jackie is a remarkable film that’s equal parts a devastating portrait of indescribable grief and a lesson on the nuts and bolts of myth making and legacy building. It takes place on a personal level — intimate, intrusive, uncomfortable — but it has national and even international implications. That scope feels appropriate […]
Tower Review
RATING: (4 STARS) On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman opened fire from the observation deck of “The Tower” at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the course of 90 minutes, he shot 32 men and women, killing 14. Earlier that day, he also killed his wife and mother at their respective homes. Tower, a […]
The Big Short Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Adam McKay is a tightrope walker. His latest film, The Big Short, is one of 2015’s funniest offerings. Its subject matter? The 2008 collapse of the American economy. McKay cut his teeth with Will Ferrell vehicles like Anchorman and Talladega Nights, which are both absurdist comedies with their own internal logics born […]
Carol Review
RATING: (4 STARS) You think you know what it is to want until you sit in stunned silence following two hours of Todd Haynes’ Carol. It’s a film about so many things, probably the least of which is the sexual orientation of its two lead (yes, lead) characters, star-crossed lovers played expertly by Cate Blanchett […]
Spotlight Review
RATING: (4 STARS) I wanted to open this review with some sort of flashy pun about how good journalism shines a light on the underserved or poorly treated in our society, and because this film is called Spotlight, it does a particularly good job at that. I couldn’t find the right quote, and I see […]
Mississippi Grind Review
RATING: (4 STARS) A breathtaking rainbow at the start of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s gambling drama Mississippi Grind promises gold on the other side. Whether or not the film and its two lead characters — the permanently down-on-his-luck Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn) and the naturally charming and seemingly care-free Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) — actually get […]
