Monthly Archives: April 2014

　”A Farewell to Fools” is a thin — very thin — Romanian fable dressed up by an international cast, a Romanian countryside that could pass for Provence or Tuscany and a World War II setting.Ipu, played by Gerard Depardieu, took … Continue reading →

The previous April opening weekend record take at the box office was held by “Fast Five,” a “Fast and Furious” installment of a few years back. Right around $88 million or so. But “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” rode good … Continue reading →

A decade and a half removed from his Oscar winning turn in “Leaving Las Vegas,” Nicolas Cage was an actor on a treadmill of ever decreasing returns. Years and years of cut-rate sci-fi (“Knowing”), bargain basement action (“Bangkok Dangerous”, “Stolen”) … Continue reading →

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” should break the opening weekend record for April by midnight Sunday. Everybody says so. It’s already broken the advance ticket sales record. $98 million+, says Box Office Mojo. Box Office Guru is a little more … Continue reading →

Decades after Ross McElwee invented the navel-gazing school of documentary filmmaking with “Sherman’s March,” Tom Berninger adds a new wrinkle to the genre with “Mistaken for Strangers.” Berninger is hero and villain of this comic essay in ineptitude masquerading as … Continue reading →

He’s half of Britain’s funniest comic duo since “The Two Ronnies.” Nick Frost and Simon Pegg clicked in “Spaced” and “Shawn of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” and “Paul” and last summer’s “The World’s End.” And the portly Frost has … Continue reading →

The end — when it comes — arrives by cell phone, a text message virus that crashes servers and tips our wired-in/dialed-up civilization into collapse. Anarchy begins, bikers and gun nuts and rogue National Guardsman run the show.But if we’re … Continue reading →

Truth in advertising? “Alien Abduction” is about just that.And it’s as simple in concept as it is in title — a hand-held camera/found footage bogeyman thriller in the “Blair Witch” mold.A family of five heads to the mountain of North … Continue reading →

The superhuman efforts director Joe Johnston made to persuade Chris Evans to re-enlist in the comic book movie universe as “Captain America” pay more dividends in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Evans, that perfect specimen of American manhood, really sells … Continue reading →