“The cinema is an invention without any future.” ― Louis Lumière
In checking the list of Pixar films, it seems like there has a been a diminishment in quality. I didn’t bother seeing the Cars sequels or The Good Dinosaur, and Monsters University and Finding Dory were a step down. Coco, by dint of its reviews, seemed to right the ship, and after seeing it I […]
Read More Review: CocoFor whatever its merits, All the Money in the World may be remembered as the movie that Kevin Spacey was erased from. Following numerous accusations of sexual impropriety, Spacey, who played the pivotal role of J. Paul Getty, was replaced by Christopher Plummer just a few weeks before the film was released. I don’t know […]
Read More Review: All the Money in the WorldNot much this week. One holdover from 2018 is Hostiles (65), a Western starring Christian Bale. I will probably see this, as I am a sucker for Westerns, and am glad they keep getting made, even though very few become hits. I’m especially interested in this one, since it is about American Indians, another favorite […]
Read More Opening in Las Vegas, January 26I’m late to this party, but I finally got around to seeing the lastest Star Wars episode, subtitled The Last Jedi, even though it is not the last film (one more to go). As these things go, it was okay, nothing transcendent, and not has good as The Force Awakens, which I think is my […]
Read More Review: Star Wars The Last JediAfter the Oscar nominations are announced, the usual chatter is about snubs. Probably the biggest perceived snub this year ties in with the biggest news story this year from Hollywood: sexual harassment. So it is somehow fitting that James Franco, who recently won a Golden Globe for Best Actor (in a Comedy or Musical) for […]
Read More The 90th Academy Awards: Time’s Up, James FrancoWhen I think back on Call Me By Your Name years from now, I think the thing that will stick with me is that everyone should have a house in northern Italy. As directed by Luco Guadagnino and photographed by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, summers there are idyllic. An epilogue showing the same house as if it […]
Read More Review: Call Me By Your NameHere in Vegas we’re getting a mixture of Oscar bait and the usual January flotsam and jetsam, which are actually well-reviewed. I’ve already seen Phantom Thread (90) and loved it except for the ending. It’s on the bubble for a Best Picture nomination, but surely Daniel Day-Lewis and costume designer Mark Bridges will get noms. […]
Read More Opening in Las Vegas, January 19, 2018Jumanji: Welcome To the Jungle (7.2 IMDB, 76% Rotten Tomatoes) – Probably the surprise breakout hit of the American holiday period, it’s probably going to end up being one of the top 5 most popular films of 2017. What odds a few months ago this would easily outdo ‘Justice League’? The reviews have been surprisingly […]
Read More Films that opened in America, December 22-25 2017If you knew nothing about Molly’s Game going in but knew the work of Aaron Sorkin, you’d put two and two together pretty soon and realize it had his fingerprints all over it. That’s mostly a good thing–nobody writes dialogue like Sorkin, he must be paid by the word–though he can edge into sanctimony. Molly’s […]
Read More Review: Molly’s GameDespite forgetting to put in my guesses this week, I narrowly claim victory of HAGEBOC 2017! FINAL SCORES: James +50 Slim +47 Rob +37 Juan +24 Marco +19 Filmman +12 Thanks for playing! We’ll kick off AGEBOC X (whoa!) on May 1st just in time for that weekend’s release of Avengers: Infinity War.
Read More HAGEBOC 2017 FINALE: JAMES WINS!!!I, Tonya gets a thumbs-up from me for basically two reasons: Margot Robbie and Allison Janney. There are also some laughs based on other characters’ stupidity, which are pretty easy to get, but Robbie shakes the role of disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding like a dog with a bone. It’s a bravura performance, and may […]
Read More Review: I, TonyaThe Shape of Water is a beautiful love story, but unlike any you’ve likely seen. We’ve had many films about humans falling in love with aliens or robots, but this is about a woman falling in love with a hybrid of a man and an amphibian. I can’t imagine what the children would look like. […]
Read More Review: The Shape of Water(Warning: contains spoilers) Alexander Payne has probably been my favourite film director over the past couple of decades; I don’t think anyone has come to close to being as precise and sharp in analysing modern-day Western society and the socio-economic forces that drive people and their relationships to each other and society itself. Therefore, even […]
Read More Review: Downsizing
Gone Elsewhere 