Daily Archives: January 27, 2013

Lovely and melancholy, poignant and chilling, “Never Let Me Go” is an old school sci-fi dystopia with lovely, wistful performances that never quite overcome the fatalism that hangs over the whole affair. Music video director Mark Romanek’s film of Kazuo … Continue reading →

Two very good looking people play two offbeat and abrasively charming lovers in “Love & Other Drugs.” And when your screen romance is as sexual as this one, it helps if your stars are about as good looking with their … Continue reading →

Mom, or grandmom, is a real piece of work. She presides over a family of low-rent thugs — armed robbers, guys with guns, no ambition and very bad tempers. As played by Jacki Weaver, she is the lioness who rules … Continue reading →

Kevin Kline’s post-Academy Award career hasn’t been the most glorious. The performances were often there, but the acclaim and box office rewards, not so much. But every so often, a piece comes along tailor made for the man, and “The … Continue reading →

Paul Haggis is back to his tricky script tricks with the thoroughly engrossing prison break thriller”The Next Three Days.” He foreshadows, hides details, delays his “reveals” and does a pretty good job of keeping us guessing, even if we remember … Continue reading →

Others heard the story of rock climber Aron Ralston’s days-long ordeal, trapped by a boulder that pinned his arm, and winced. Danny Boyle saw a tale of endurance  and triumph, a spiritual journey in which a young man comes to … Continue reading →

Rapunzel, the girl locked in a tower with only her long, golden locks for company, gets a sassy, spirited screen treatment from Disney with “Tangled,” an animated fairytale musical from Not Pixar corner of the company. Disney has turned her … Continue reading →

With “The Illusionist,” fans of the late, great and generally silent French comic Jacques Tati have what is, in essence, his final film. It’s an animated farce in the Tati style , based on a Tati  (“Mon Oncle,” Monsieur Hulot’s … Continue reading →

Two broken souls meet and try to connect in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s screen directing debut, “Jack Goes Boating.”  Hoffman, working from the Bob Glaudini play which he also starred in, conjures up a modern day “Marty” about fragile, damaged people … Continue reading →

Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, is the smartest guy in the room.  He used to be the smartest “kid” in the room, though he aged out of that. Kind of. But the questions posited by David Fincher’s  brilliant film, … Continue reading →