Yearly Archives: 2013

The Oscar-nominated documentary “The Gatekeepers” is built around interviews with the last six chiefs of the Israeli intelligence service, Shin Bet. And with all due respect to a “divided America,” these guys will tell you what a REALLY divided country … Continue reading →

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 →

Matthew Fox is the aide tasked with finding out to what degree Japan’s Emperor Hirohito was an active participant/knowing dupe in Japan’s war of aggression in the Pacific. Rape of Nanjing, attack on Pearl Harbor, savage treatment of POWs, civilians … Continue reading →