Monthly Archives: June 2014

The Paul Haggis drama “Third Person” is, like his Oscar-winning “Crash,” a series of interlocking stories. Each is fascinating , or at least interesting its own right. Each is cast with more than capable actors.Like “Crash,” the conceit that ties … Continue reading →

It helps, when you’re a movie star, to be what they call “Movie Star Handsome.”But don’t tell that to Guy Pearce. A leading man, oft-employed as a dashing cad (“The King’s Speech”) or chiseled villain (“Iron Man 3”), he still … Continue reading →

“Vanda” stumbles into the theater from off the street, drenched from a French cloudburst.She curses, stumbles about, pleads. Can’t she get an audition? Thomas, the adapter/director, has just gotten off the phone, griping to his fiancee that he cannot cast … Continue reading →

The spring and summer of 2012 are forever ago — in movie years. And that suits Taylor Kitsch just fine. It’s a year worth forgetting, in a lot of ways. The hunky star of the TV version of “Friday Night … Continue reading →

“Coherence” is an indie thriller of modestly cerebral ambitions, a Theatre of the Absurd piece with “Twilight Zone” touches. Round up eight friends for a dinner party. Set us up for the usual interpersonal melodramas — this character used to … Continue reading →

The big releases from major studios this week are getting enthusiastic endorsements — or at least some love, from most critics. The riotous “22 Jump Street” is the sequel to end all sequels. It mocks the idea of making a … Continue reading →

The charms of “How to Train Your Dragon” are thinned a bit for its sequel, a cartoon with better animation and livelier action, if fewer jokes. If there’s one thing these sweet-message/great flying sequence movies don’t need is fewer jokes. … Continue reading →

Science fiction cinema doesn’t get much more beautifully strange than “The Signal.” An alien-interaction thriller that borrows from generations of such films that preceded it, it has the visual tone, production design and especially sound design to rival the best … Continue reading →

They should’ve killed him when they had the chance. Twas ever thus in revenge thrillers. The “hero” is wronged, injured, left for dead. Only he isn’t. And since he’s Guy “Memento” Pearce, we reckon there’ll be heck to pay. “The … Continue reading →