Category: Film Reviews

A fun and interesting film by Jim Jarmusch starring Bill Murray as a man of many silences. Some people have raved about this film but, while we enjoyed it, I think it’s been praised a bit too much because Murray got stiffed with other Oscar awards. Anyway, when his girlfriend leave him, Don Johnston—Don Juan…

A fun claymation piece about chickens escaping from a chicken farm. Evil humans, good chickens. Voices by well-known actors. “Great Escape” and “Treblinka” by chickens. Wonderful technical effects in the claymation. B- like the film, although she was sort of scared at first

[Warning, spoilers included]. They’re back. I mean the nasty aliens are back to try to destroy the world again. That’s too bad, because they’ve brought with them a really bad movie. Its 20 years after the first invasion, the world’s at peace and more technologically sophisticated thanks to the technology reverse engineered from the earlier…

A fun, easy film about gen-x men and women in western Massachusetts with very good acting. Nicely done bits by Matt Dillon and John Cusak.

I liked this 2010 documentary that follows Rivers, who died just a few weeks ago, through her many gigs, her obsessive need to be seen as being on top, her relationship with her daughter Melissa, the end of her relationship with her manager of 35 years,. and her failed one woman stage show. But she…

A funny and fine French film about a shy young woman who sets out to help the people who are around her. I can’t think of names off the top of my head, but the star is gorgeous and wonderful, and the cast is really fine. A very humane tone. See this one!

I liked this based on a true story, Disney-sanitized Civil Rights story of the struggle against oppression by three African-American women at NASA in Virginia during the early 1960s. Their triumphs speak to both the movement for change and the moment of struggle that encouraged them to reject and challenge societal constraints. Starring Taraji Henson,…

A good Australian movie about 20-somethings. Nice turn about “true love”.

Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown”. Whoops, no its not but the resemblance of this 2010 Polanski mystery/thriller to his 1974 classic detective mystery/thriller is palpable. The apolitical Ghost (Ewan McGregor) wins the assignment to help a former Brit PM (Pierce Brosnan, charismatic and soulless as the Blair-like official) write his memoir after the first ghost…

A good Czech film about skirt-chasing bachelor who makes a marriage of convenience with a Russian woman as the collapse is happening in Eastern Europe. She then splits on him and leaves him with her 5-year old son. Works on a variety of levels. He’s a musician who can’t have serious relationships, who becomes an…

“The Devil’s Backbone” 8 May 2010, DVD. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Mexican, “Pan’s Labyrinth”) and produced by the Almodovar brothers, this political Spanish ghost story is set in the final days of the Spanish Civil War. A boy’s school for the orphans of the war (Republican only) is haunted by the spirit of one…

1944 loose, Fritz Lang directed version of Graham Greene novel (according to film historian remarks included as a feature, GG did not like the adaptation). Ray Milland stars as a man released from a mental asylum after serving two years for having killed his wife. He goes to a country fair before taking the train…

1949 Japanese noir from Akira Kurosawa. Detective, former soldier Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) has his pocket picked on a bus during a brutally hot drought in immediate post-war Japan. His gun is stolen and he frantically sets out to retrieve it. He becomes increasingly despairing as the gun figures in several violent crimes. He teams up…

1999 remake of old 60s caper flick, this one with Pierce Brosnan as Crown and Rene Russo as Catherine Banning. There is NO chemistry between Brosnan and Russo although she looks very good without her clothes on. Dennis Leary is good as the cop. Crown is very rich and steals for fun and to own…

  “Ant-Man,” August 14, 2018 (2015), TV.  Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a thief working with a crew of bumblers led by Luis (the very talented Michael Peña) becomes Ant-Man in another fine Marvel Comic feature.  It’s got good tone, humor, and action without the stupidity of magic or religion.  It’s the science that does it. …

“Mission Impossible: Fallout,” August 10, 2018, theater.   First, I’ve never been a fan of this franchise I went to see it because several reviewers I like really enjoyed this one The action sequences are excellent and, given that Cruise is Chan-like and does his own gags, are really quite impressive The plot is, from a…

“Isle of Dogs,” (2018) August 4, 2018, DVD at home. Bronwen really wanted to see this Wes Anderson animated bi-lingual piece about canine oppression in a Japanese prefecture, the dogs removal to trash island by an evil prefecture after they develop a disease, and the dogs culture on the island.  She liked it and found…

“Three Identical Strangers,” (2018) July 27, 2018, theater. Bronwen really wanted to see this Wes Anderson animated bi-lingual piece about canine oppression in a Japanese prefecture, the dogs removal to trash island by an evil prefecture after they develop a disease, and the dogs culture on the island. She liked it and found it funny….

    “Three Identical Strangers,” (2018) July 27, 2018, theater.  This deeply affecting documentary chronicles the story behind a story. In 1980, three adopted young men, all from Jewish families, accidentally discovered that they were triplets, separated and adopted by three very different families, at birth. What follows is their joyous reunion, their early acclaim…

“Three Identical Strangers,” (2018) July 27, 2018, theater.  This deeply affecting documentary chronicles the story behind a story.  In 1980, three adopted young men, all from Jewish families, accidentally discovered that they were triplets, separated and adopted by three very different families, at birth.   What follows is their joyous reunion, their early acclaim and momentary…

    “Sorry to Bother You,” July 22, 2018, theater.  I really enjoyed, frequently laughed out loud, and was also more than a little disturbed by this wacky Boots Riley vehicle. He wrote and directed.   He’s the frontman for The Coup, a radical hip hop band that’s influenced by folks like George Clinton.   I play…

“Shrek II,” July 15,  2004, theater.  Myers, Murphy, and Diaz are back as Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona in this fun sequel. Not quite as good as the original, but less pitched to the kids also. More grown-up and it loses something in that.

   “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” July 15, 2018, theater.  Bronwen usually hates movies like this and she only went to it with me in the theater as a ‘favor.’  Imagine my surprise when we both really enjoyed this very well-written, witty, well-made, sometimes visually stunning, curious sci-fi Marvel Comic treat.  Well-acted by all, Paul Rudd…

  “Solo,”  July 13, 2018, theater.    This “Star Wars” series, Ron Howard directed, Lawrence and Jonathan Kasden written, prequel gives us Han’s backstory following him from street thief to pilot and good guy criminal. Raised in privation, he (Landen Ehrenreich) flees and joins the imperial military before hooking up with criminal freebooters (led by…

    “Solo,” (2018) July 13, 2018, theater.  This “Star Wars” series, Ron Howard directed, Lawrence and Jonathan Kasden written, prequel gives us Han’s backstory following him from street thief to pilot and good guy criminal.  Raised in privation, he (Landen Ehrenreich) flees and joins the imperial military before hooking up with criminal freebooters (led…