Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Alan Arkin come together to star in Stand Up Guys. The story about a trio of old-time hoods revolves mainly around Doc (Walken) and Val (Pacino). Val’s been doing time for an accidental killing for the last 28 years and it’s his old friend and literal partner-in-crime Doc who greets […]
Stand Up Guys has a lot going for it with its cast and premise, but in the end, it certainly doesn’t elicit a standing ovation. In fact, the only thing standing up in this film is Al Pacino’s pecker after a few too many male assistance pills. That tired sequence has been done to death […]
Zombie stories have been the same, more or less, from the dawn of their creation. We know zombies are dead humans infected by some apocalyptic virus leaving them in an undead state doomed to shuffle somewhat aimlessly around collapsing cities and towns forever on the lookout for one thing—brains. It’s mindless existence if it could be called […]
A retirement home for the musically gifted is the setting for a nearly-overlooked film that marks the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman (at a spry 75) in Quartet. The namesake group is played by Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins. The home is populated by some of the biggest names in musical […]
When it comes to horror films I can be as stingy as ole’ Jack O’ Lantern. For me the best horror films need to go beyond the easy fright. They need to crawl beneath the skin and into the deep emotional psyche. That requires a solid, believable story line to go along with the creepy […]
Another week brings another Best Film Oscar nominee into focus with Zero Dark Thirty, the retelling of the hunt and killing of Osama bin Laden. The film stars Jessica Chastain as “Maya” who, may or may not have existed. My guess would be that she stands in as an amalgam of several key players of […]
Oscar-nominated director David O’Russell gives us a romantic comedy starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver and more. Each of the four stars have also been nominated in their respective categories and the movie’s been nominated for best picture. This is, without question, a quirky film that happens to have been shot locally […]
One of the last films of the year for me, Amour, is a highly-regarded foreign film that’s gaining a lot of attention of late due to it receiving several major Oscar nominations for Best Film, Foreign Film, Director and Actress. This French story focuses on a cultured married couple in their 80’s. They live a […]
For several weeks (months?) I’ve been acutely aware of the new Hitchcock film starring Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock. Anyone who’s seen a movie lately will know why it’s so easily brought to mind. Hopkins, in full character, has been greeting movie-goers to a funny parody asking people not to text during the movie as […]
The latest interpretation of one of the most famous stories in literature and stage, Les Miserables, comes to the big screen as a musical. It stars Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette) and more. I will say from the start that I’m a big fan of the stage version of […]
I’m not at all sure who Quentin Tarantino targets his movies to but, with growing regularity, I’m clearly not one of his targets. His latest effort, Django Unchained, had its release delayed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy. After seeing it, I now understand why. I just wish it had been delayed to […]
Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts star as husband and wife Henry and Maria, vacationing with their three sons in Thailand for Christmas. Their idyllic excursion comes to a brutal end when the infamous tsunami comes bursting through their resort and scattering everyone. The early scenes of the movie involve jaw-dropping, highly realistic recreation of the […]