Monthly Archives: December 2013

Leonardo DiCaprio’s most charismatic performance ever anchors Martin Scorsese’s robust and raunchy lowlifes-of-high-finance comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street.” This is their greatest teaming, a veritable “Citizen Kane” of the post “Greed is good” era — three hours of cocaine … Continue reading →

James Thurber‘s whimsical short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was about a bored, unassuming married man who escapes his humdrum life through wildly adventurous fantasies in which he becomes a war hero, a test pilot and the like. … Continue reading →

Unlucky 2013? Some weekends, it seemed that way at the movies.Big bad movies, cheap bad movies, ill-advisedly awful and ignominious efforts.Johnny Depp outstayed his welcome, Adam Sandler sucker punched his enabling fans one last time, Will Smith made a movie … Continue reading →

It’s a pretty close race for this weekend’s box office title, closer than one might have expected. But then, “The Hobbit” is a bit of an underperformer. And heaven knows, Will Ferrell & Co. have been selling the heck out … Continue reading →

Actors, as a rule, like to say that they “never judge” a character they’re playing, no matter how loathsome. Even villains, the logic goes, don’t look in the bathroom mirror in the morning, waxing the moustache they’re about to twirl … Continue reading →

This has been one of those years that makes you think whatever Oscar does, a consensus has pretty much been reached among critics and various critics’ groups about which films will pull down best picture Oscar nominations. With the Academy … Continue reading →

I’m a bit surprised by the generally positive reviews of “Anchorman 2.” Granted, it is a better film than the first one, smarter, with a target (cable TV news and the destruction of journalism) narrower than just “the ’70s” and … Continue reading →

The BBC series “Walking With Dinosaurs” gets a kid-friendly big screen treatment, complete with cutesy story and dino-poop jokes, in “Walking With Dinosaurs 3D.” Aimed squarely at that dino-crazy demographic (7-12), it pumps a few IQ points into a kid … Continue reading →

“The Past” is a deliciously soapy French romantic mystery, a melodrama that gives that label a good name.It’s about divorce and the rippling waves of pain caused by it and the affair that precipitated it. And the more we learn … Continue reading →

All the various film awards and nominations are piling up at the same doorsteps this year, a monotonous drumbeat of “12 Years a Slave” and “Gravity” acclaim. Those films, from “Dallas Buyer’s Club” to “All is Lost,” earn a new … Continue reading →