Monthly Archives: December 2014

“Miss Julie,” August Strindberg’s 19th century drama about class and that Darwinian fixation of the nobility, “breeding,” comes to austere life in an adaptation by the Swedish actress-turned-director Liv Ullmann. She has re-set the Swedish tale in 1890s Ireland, and … Continue reading →

Still waters may run deep, as the old saying goes. But “Beside Still Waters” there’s nothing deeper than “The Big Chill.” Yes, it’s another knockoff of “Chill” and “Return of the Secaucus Seven”, another gathering of young “old friends” at … Continue reading →

The evolving state of Britain’s soccer hooligans is explored, one bloody beating or brutal brawl at a time, in the imported Brit drama, “Green Street Hooligans: Underground.” It’s the third in a series of films about the two-fisted fans of … Continue reading →

Clever title, taking us back to James Bond’s arch nemesis, the extra-governmental crime syndicate that kept Sean Connery and Roger Moore so busy all those years. Clever, too, in reviving  “Spectre” in an age of Al Quaeda and ISIS. Ernst … Continue reading →

Ethan Hawke found his groove as an actor sometime, I figure, in the late 90s. His indie film connection to Richard Linklater led to the “Before Sunrise” trilogy with Julie Delpy, and eventually to “Boyhood,” Linklater’s masterpiece, the movie that … Continue reading →

You missed one of the best movies of the year? Top 20, if not Top Ten list material? You weren’t alone. It opened meekly, dropped off screens too quickly, and that’s a crime. No worries. Hollywood’s dead post-“Hunger Games” stretch … Continue reading →

Reese Witherspoon finds a role worthy of her in “Wild,” playing a woman who hikes her way out of a tragic past, one painful, traumatic step at a time. A find-yourself-by-testing-yourself drama in the “Into the Wild” or “The Way” … Continue reading →

Sasha and Paige are more than best-friends. They connect, they finish each other’s sentences. They’re “Life Partners.” And as such, they have rituals — date night consists of drinking, watching “Top Model” together and mocking it, and spying each other … Continue reading →