Category Archives: previews

Looking at the all-important Rottentomatoes Tomatometer on Monday, your eyes might have popped at the near 90% positive rating the latest “Hunger Games” film, “Mockingjay — Part 1,” was earning. Those are “Gravity” numbers, “Avatar” level appreciation. Then you scan … Continue reading →

Clara Mamet makes her film directing debut with “Two-Bit Waltz,” an inconsequential, self-consciously quirky coming of age comedy from an actress-playwright testing her movie-making wings at the ripe old age of 20. The castmember of TV’s “The Neighbors” has made … Continue reading →

Reviews won’t hurt “Dumb and Dumber To.” The college crowd I caught it with ate it up. Granted, they weren’t Ivy Leaguers, but I dare say a generation that grew up with the original semi-raunchy Two Stooges Throwback are going … Continue reading →

Gloom gathers over the movie “Foxcatcher.” The skies are perpetually grey and the only time we see don’t see red leaves tumbling to the ground is when they’re covered with snow. We know something fatal is coming, even if our … Continue reading →

There’s a hint of the Dust Bowl in Oscar-winner Hilary Swank’s face — a worn, rawboned quality straight out of a Walker Evans photograph. That makes her the perfect Mary Bee Cuddy, the sturdy not-quite-old-maid of Tommy Lee Jones’ film, … Continue reading →

  There’s something about motorcycles and motorcycle documentaries that brings out the kid in us all. The immediacy of the experience, the speed, the hair’s breadth away from danger — good films get across the intoxicating hobby and sport that … Continue reading →

November is when critics start to wrap up their screenings of the Top Ten List contenders, from “Instellar” and “Rosewater” and soon to open films with Oscar buzz, to “Foxcatcher” and tonight’s outing, “The Theory of Everything.” As Stephen Hawking … Continue reading →

Studio Ghibli’s “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” is an old fashioned Japanese folk tale beautifully rendered in old-fashioned hand-drawn animation. As anime projects go, Isao Takahata’s film is rougher-hewn, more hand-crafted looking than the Oscar winning work of Ghibli’s … Continue reading →

Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is the most ambitious science fiction film — maybe ever, certainly since “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Long, filled with lengthy passages of exposition and explanations of science, it takes forever to get to a killer third act. … Continue reading →

It comes as no surprise that renowned British character actor Mark Strong is a pretty fair poker player. He’d have to be. His screen reputation is “unadulterated villainy” (Sandra Hall, Sydney Morning Herald). He was the bad guy in everything … Continue reading →