All Film Reviews

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (PG-13)

Purity is a hard sell, particularly to Hollywood. Its very presence shines a light on lesser qualities, it is a rude virtue, the byword of arrogance, and, to take Hollywood’s view, guilty of the chief sin of being dull. Our cultural revolt against the Puritans as stodgy, strict, morose and over scrupulous is not due […]
Shane (Not Rated)

Early in Shane, George Stevens’s classic western, the camera takes up the point of view of a boy named Joey (Brandon DeWilde); while trying to set his sight on a buck, he catches a glimpse of an approaching rider. Neither the perspective nor the focus of the film changes much after this. While it might […]
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (PG-13)

During the theatrical run of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Dodge had an extensive promotional campaign featuring Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy character. In the TV spots, he never actually identified himself as Ron Burgundy or reported any news or interacted with any other characters from either Anchorman film. He just wore a loud suit and […]
The Constant Gardener (R)

The name Teresa, or Therese, is common in the recent history of the church. It’s most recognizable bearer is perhaps Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who founded the Missionaries of Charity. This Catholic Congregation, like its founder, is dedicated to the free care of HIV/AIDS suffers, tuberculosis patients, the mentally ill, abandoned children, lepers, refugees, etc. […]
What If… (PG)

In Nancy Meyers’ What Women Want, Mel Gibson played a male chauvinist who was miraculously granted the ability to hear the thoughts of women as though those thoughts were being expressed verbally. Gibson was Nick Marshall, ad exec and lady killer, who never gave a second thought to what women wanted, but took what he […]
Mr. Peabody and Sherman (PG)

Walking into the multiplex, I looked forward to Rob Minkoff’s Mr. Peabody and Sherman with an anticipation I usually do not feel for animated cartoons. Mr. Peabody’s Improbable History, the source material for this new release, stands high among the best animated series of all time and has been unjustly neglected by those who profess […]
Catching Fire (PG-13)

On the one hand you have Athanasius contra mundum, and on the other hand, Fifty million Elvis fans can’t be wrong. I’ll confess equal sympathies for both dictums. The Truth is a Man, a single Man, and He does not depend on massive crowds to give Him cultural validity. His cult is the genesis of […]
The Truman Show (PG)

Apocalyptically speaking, falling stars signal the end of the age, a coming political revolution, for the celestial lights represent rulers. The fall of one star foretells the rising of another and we have just such an omen in an early scene of The Truman Show: a halogen light with “Sirius (9 Canis Major)” written on it […]
Hours (PG-13)

Low-budget, independent films require a few important things to engross an audience. Since they do not have the budget of a blockbuster, they rely heavily on the script and the actors. In theory, Hours should have had both. In practice, it had neither. Our story opens on a soon-to-be father and mother entering a hospital […]
300: Rise Of An Empire (R)

Some days call for dumb movies. Every now and then, on a late night or a quiet Saturday afternoon, there’s reason enough to watch something that will advance your psyche in no way. I admit it. I’d even go so far as to allow Zack Snyder’s 300 (the 2006 one) to be such. Maybe. It […]
Noah (PG-13)

What follows is a conversation between Joshua Gibbs and myself on the work of Darren Aronofsky, culminating in a lengthy discussion of Noah, the director’s most recent work. Of course, this conversation is not exhaustive. Most of his films are here discussed in generalities, individual works are mentioned to highlight commonalities in his catalog. We […]
American Hustle (R)

It is possible to walk away from David O. Russell’s American Hustle with an unchallenged, unalloyed understanding of the word “American”— the quantity of leisure suits and Jersey accents alone put to rest any doubts about which America we’re dealing with. The same can’t be said of that other word, “hustle.” There is too much […]
How I Live Now (R)

When I was still quite young, no more than ten or eleven, little excited my soul more than the sound of a fire alarm going off at school. We would exit the building quickly and stand in the parking lot, surveying the school. Someone would claim they saw smoke, and we would all say we […]
Non-Stop (PG-13)

There was a time when Liam Neeson seemed to need such a foreign-sounding name. He played Oskar Schindler, the sensualist-turned-saint who saved a thousand Jews from Hitler’s hands. He played Michael Collins, the fiery revolutionary, and the strangely pious Rob Roy. Anymore, though, I think Liam might as well be a Jack or a John, […]
Son of God (PG-13)

Cinematic adaptations of the earthly life of Jesus Christ must all, in a sense, disappoint for one of two reasons. They are either handicapped by a nervous fidelity to the text of the Four Evangelists, and thus lose themselves in a sea of pious tedium, or, moved by a spirit of whimsical heterodoxy, they introduce […]
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (PG-13)

Approaching a film directed by Kenneth Branagh, I cannot pretend my expectations were low. Of all the actors of our generation, Branagh ranks in the elites. His understanding of characters and strong story telling has consistently shown him to be more than a passing phenomenon. His work in the Shakespearean genre alone is dazzling. Let […]
Nebraska (R)

Alexander Payne, who is perhaps best known for moving the wine industry with his 2004 film Sideways, is well practiced in the Midwestern art of stoic disappointment. A son of the cornhusker state, Payne uses their quiet turmoil even when his films are set California and Hawaii as was Sideways and The Descendants, respectively.
Much Ado About Nothing (2012) (PG-13)

“Shakespeare” is a word which likely conjures up an endless string of irrevocably poignant images, though the writer himself was directly responsible for none of them. I think of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and the battle on the beach, wherein Harold Perrineau’s tragically underestimated interpretation of Mercutio claims “A scratch!” after being mortally stabbed. […]
Labor Day (PG-13)

If the development of an artist’s career did in fact advance logically, Jason Reitman’s next film would be a new version of Peter Pan wryly punctuated by voice-over commentary from an older, slightly worldlier Wendy Darling. All of his major films (excepting 2007’s Juno) have a markedly boyish tone to them, and the nature of […]
Winter’s Tale (PG-13)

In his adaptation of Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale, Akiva Goldsman shows himself the true student of longtime collaborator Ron Howard, whom he has for many years served as principal screenwriter. What unites these two men is evidently a shared attraction to stories driven more by emotional force than any question of great moral interest. Any […]