Monthly Archives: February 2014

Blame Mel Gibson for it if you like, but no Jesus movie these days is worth its salt without an utterly unflinching treatment of his torture and crucifixion. And “Son of God” has stretches where the agony we watch this … Continue reading →

The once and forever hobbit Frodo Elijah Wood has had a pretty interesting career post-Middle Earth. Not that a lot of people have noticed. He was terrific in a small role in “Sin City,” was perfect in “Everything is Illuminated,” … Continue reading →

　The label “durable” as in “durable leading man” has never fit Liam Neeson more than it does in these late career action pictures that have become his bread and butter since “Taken.” He still looks like he can take a … Continue reading →

　We should all be so lucky as to live in a world designed, peopled and manipulated by Wes Anderson. His latest film, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” is a dark, daft and deft triumph of design details. From the purple velvet … Continue reading →

Steve Coogan may have copped Oscar nominations for writing and producing “Philomena,” a film that offers Judi Dench another shot at an acting Oscar and Coogan a chance to re-invent himself as an actor. But the reason Coogan’s always needed … Continue reading →

　”Stalingrad” is a huge, old-fashioned combat spectacle, a war story told on a vast scale and shown on vast IMAX movie screens, in 3D no less.It’s Russian — oh so very Russian, an epic of “The Great Patriotic War” that … Continue reading →

Very sad to hear that funnyman, writer/director Harold Ramis has died. He was 69, the Chicago Tribune says in the story on his death. He wrote “Caddyshack,” was famous for the “Ghostbusters” movies, reliable support to Bill Murray in “Stripes,” … Continue reading →

There’s a lot to be extrapolated from this weekend’s box office tallies, far beyond the ongoing love for “The LEGO Movie” and arrival of Kevin Hart as a big box office star. Another $30 million or so added on this … Continue reading →

　The better the obstacles to love and happiness, the more bittersweet the romance. That’s a reminder from “The Lunchbox,” an Indian film (in English and Hindi) that remembers it’s not sizzling sex scenes that make movie love stories work, it’s … Continue reading →