[6] Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in writer/director Derek Cianfrance’s (The Place Beyond the Pines) melancholy love story, Blue Valentine. The film cuts back and forth between two timelines, with Williams and Gosling playing Brooklyn lovers at both the beginning and end of a relationship. Cianfrance brings his documentary filmmaking skills to bear, coaxing powerful, authentic performances out of his two stars, and utilizing …
[5] Benicio Del Toro plays the cursed title character in this remake of Universal Pictures’ famous 1941 monster movie. After his brother is discovered mutilated, Del Toro returns home to his father’s estate to find out who killed him. Anthony Hopkins brings gravitas as the father, and Emily Blunt pours her heart out in the role of the dead brother’s fiancée. In searching for the …
[7] Guillermo del Toro presents this creepy tale about a little girl (Bailee Madison) who discovers evil creatures live in the ash pit beneath her father’s newly acquired mansion. While the creatures try to persuade the girl to join them, they frame her for destructive deeds, turning her dad (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) against her. As the girl falls into despair trying …
[3] In this third Meet the Parents film, Robert DeNiro’s characters suffers a heart attack, causing renewed concern that his son-in-law, played by Ben Stiller, be able to carry on as the family’s patriarch when he’s gone. Little Fockers feels hastily concocted with a script that’s overly-contrived and an ensemble cast that is barely ever in the same room together. As much as I’ve enjoyed …
[8] Writer/director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One) serves up an authentic-feeling monster movie that takes place in the near-future, after NASA accidentally releases an alien life form in the sky over Mexico. The enormous tentacled creatures begin destroying cities and towns, causing mass casualties — but after a few years, the country (and the world) adapt to this new reality. Monster sightings become like tornado …
[7] Visionary director Julie Taymor (Titus, Across the Universe) brings Shakespeare’s The Tempest to the big screen, with the lead role of Prospero played not by a man, as per tradition, but by Helen Mirren. Mirren’s Prospera is raising her daughter (Felicity Jones) on a barren, mystical island where she can practice the magic that got her banished from society. The film opens with Prospera …
[7] Colin Firth plays the stuttering King George VI, who never wanted to be king for fear of his speech impediment bringing shame to him and his family. The King’s Speech focuses on the antagonistic relationship between the king and his therapist, Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush, and culminates in a live radio speech the King gives on the eve of Britain’s declaration of …
[7] This vampire flick from the Spierig brothers (Undead) is good old-fashioned B-movie fun. The concept of a world full of vampires on the brink of a blood shortage is interesting, even if the plot goes silly at times. I liked Ethan Hawke as the vampire in charge of finding a blood substitute (just when I was pretty sure I’d never like Ethan Hawke again). …
[6] A farming town falls victim to an airborne toxin that turns everyone into homicidal maniacs in this remake of George Romero’s 1973 original. The film is directed by Breck Eisner (son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner), and while it drags in many places and brings little originality to the ‘outbreak’ or ‘zombie’ subgenres, it’s nonetheless a competent little horror flick. My main gripe …
[7] In this remake of a British original, all hell breaks loose at a funeral where volatile secrets are revealed. There are a few raunchy moments in the remake –directed by Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men) — but the film has much more in common with the old screwball comedies of the 40s than today’s common gross-out fests. The film is sprinkled with …
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