Monthly Archives: January 2013

“Moneyball” is a thinking person’s baseball movie, and a baseball fan’s thinking movie. Sure, it’s based on the Michael Lewis book about Billy Beane, the ex-ballplayer turned Oakland A’s general manager who upended the game by rebuilding his team through … Continue reading →

  “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” is precious, protracted and pleasant enough, if not exactly potty trained.

In the early days of Italian neo-Realism, there was this little classic called “Bicycle Thieves,” a movie about a father struggling to support his adoring son in post-war Italy. When his bike is stolen, his ability to make a living … Continue reading →

You might have noticed her in “The Dark Knight Rises.” That’s Juno Temple, playing Catwoman’s confidante, second banana to the tall, dark and runway ready Anne Hathaway. It’s a small role in a very large studio summer blockbuster. But you … Continue reading →

On its surface, it seems innocuous, sympathetic. Then you think about it for, oh, a second or so. Cinemark, a pretty well-run theater chain, operates the theater in Aurora, Colorado, where an over-armed nut killed a bunch of fans at … Continue reading →

“Promised Land” is an engaging and entertaining — if preachy —  look at Big Energy and fracking – the land-and-water-wrecking practice of drilling and pumping water and chemicals into the ground to extract natural gas from shale. To Steve Butler … Continue reading →

Glenn Close is very still in her latest film — quiet, never cracking a smile. Playing a member of the staff of an upper crust Dublin hotel in the late 19th century, the idea was to be invisible. Think “Downton … Continue reading →

Yoni Netanyahu was the veteran Israeli commando who led the raid on the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, on July 4, 1976. He died early in that firefight, in which Israeli troops fought off terrorists and their Ugandan protectors to free … Continue reading →

Neil Young is in fine voice, captured live at Toronto’s acoustic treasure, Massey Hall, in Jonathan Demme’s latest Neil Young documentary, “Neil Young Journeys.” This follows “Neil Young Trunk Show” in 2009. And “Neil Young: Heart of Gold.” And those … Continue reading →

In her most famous big screen role, voodoo priestess Tia Dalia in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, Naomi Harris wore grey, clay-lumped dreadlocks and the nastiest teeth stains this side of the invention of toothpaste. But as her turn … Continue reading →