Daily Archives: January 18, 2013

Art doesn’t just imitate life, it comes in direct conflict with it in “Even the Rain,” a movie about making a m0vie and about which is more important, the film or the real world events overtaking it. In it, a … Continue reading →

Paul Giamatti, the unlikeliest leading man of his generation, is perfectly cast in “Barney’s Version,” an intimate relationship epic based on a Mordecai Richler novel. It’s a dream role for the balding, paunchy Giamatti, who manages something like a tour … Continue reading →

For one magic moment, Jennifer Aniston looks into Adam Sandler’s eyes — and we buy it. Her character is reciting a list of what she loves about his character, and even though they’re in a fake marriage on a “fake-cation,” … Continue reading →

“Urgency” in the movies can be a product of editing or a consequence of very fine acting. It’s that sense that there is a ticking clock working against our hero, that a matter of life or death, love or loss … Continue reading →

The “soldiers trapped behind enemy lines” story has been a favorite since Xenophon followed Greeks home from deep in hostile Persia in “Anabasis,” in 400 B.C. That’s the plot of “Centurion,” an old–fashioned quest epic set in Roman Britain. Beautifully … Continue reading →

The mysterious disappearance of Rome’s IX Legion Hispana inspires yet another moderately rousing action picture in “The Eagle,” a film based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s popular 1950s novel about “The Eagle of the Ninth.” Eagle-eyed period piece fans will recall that … Continue reading →

Every year we gripe about how the Academy “snubbed” this director, film, actress or actor. Fans use that as an excuse to tune out the Oscar telecast. Every year, the Oscars grow less special, less novel, because the awards and … Continue reading →

A trio of films go into wide release today — a ghost story getting decent reviews, a retro Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot’em up earning better reviews (not from me, the peasants) and a poorly reviewed Mark Wahlberg/Russell Crowe thriller that I … Continue reading →