THE REVOLUTION IS ABOUT ALL OF US. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her allies prepare to liberate the people of Panem and defeat President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and his troops once and for all. The fourth and final chapter in this franchise is largely an overblown war movie, with scenes that might remind audiences of … Continue reading The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
FIRE BURNS BRIGHTER IN THE DARKNESS. After surviving another Hunger Game, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is in District 13 where the rebel leader, President Coin (Julianne Moore), wants to turn her into the Mockingjay, a symbol of the resistance. The third and fourth films in the franchise cut the last novel into two. A pointless … Continue reading The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
A NATION FORGED IN BLOOD. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, a fur trapper (Al Pacino) and his son are reluctantly drawn into it; an aristocratic daughter (Nastassja Kinski) has more idealistic reasons to help the colonists. The box-office bomb that was so poorly received that Pacino didn’t make another movie for four years … Continue reading Revolution
THE DESTINY OF A SOLDIER. THE HONOR OF A SLAVE. THE FATE OF AN EMPIRE. Twenty years after the whole Roman Ninth Legion disappeared somewhere in northern Britannia, its commander’s son (Channing Tatum) arrives hoping to restore the honor of his family’s name. Inspired by the actual disappearance of a Roman legion in AD 120, … Continue reading The Eagle
A LAWYER AND HIS ASSISTANT FIGHTING TO SAVE A FATHER ON TRIAL FOR MURDER. A TIME TO QUESTION WHAT THEY BELIEVE. A TIME TO DOUBT WHAT THEY TRUST. AND NO TIME FOR MISTAKES. Young Mississippi attorney Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) takes a case where a black man (Samuel L. Jackson) stands accused of having murdered … Continue reading A Time to Kill
EVERY REVOLUTION BEGINS WITH A SPARK. After winning the Hunger Games, tributes Katniss and Peeta (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson) inspire rebellions in several districts, and President Snow (Donald Sutherland) comes up with a new version of the games. The sequel has a new director and a somewhat darker shade of colors, but it is also … Continue reading The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
THE WORLD WILL BE WATCHING. As punishment for a past uprising, twelve districts must offer their rulers two “tributes”, a boy and a girl, to compete in the Hunger Games where they fight to the death. This adaptation of an immensely popular young adult novel is head and shoulders above most other similar projects, … Continue reading The Hunger Games
TRAIN THEM! EXCITE THEM! ARM THEM!… THEN TURN THEM LOOSE ON THE NAZIS! When Roger Ebert sat down to review this film in 1967, he couldn’t get past one scene that comes near the end. I’ve seen so much senseless violence in movies (and so has he) that I would have barely reacted had … Continue reading Dirty Dozen: Band of Bandits
YOU’D NEVER TAKE HER FOR A CALL GIRL. YOU’D NEVER TAKE HIM FOR A COP. When Jane Fonda started preparing for the role of a self-assured and sexy prostitute in Klute (1971) she became convinced that she was simply not attractive enough and told the filmmakers to hire her friend Faye Dunaway instead. This idea … Continue reading Klute: Actually, It’s All About Bree
EVER WISH YOUR BOSS WERE DEAD? Best buddies Nick, Kurt and Dale (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day) are all abused at work by their mean-spirited bosses; eventually they come up with a radical solution. This raunchy comedy borrows its premise from Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951) in a not too inspired way, but offers many laughs … Continue reading Horrible Bosses
SOMETIMES IT TAKES MORE THAN JUST GOOD LOOKS TO KILL. Empty-headed high-school cheerleader Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson) learns that it is part of her destiny to slay vampires. Joss Whedon probably realized that the original script he had written was better than this movie; five years later he would create a superior TV adaptation that would run for … Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer
LET IN THE UNEXPECTED. Manhattan dentist Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) tries to reacquaint himself with Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), his roommate from college, who lost his whole family in 9/11 and has now become a recluse. In the right circumstances, Sandler can be very effective in dramas. He gives this movie its emotional core, looking … Continue reading Reign Over Me
POSSESSION KNOWS NO BOUNDS. In 1817, a woman casts a spell on the Bell family in Tennessee; a demon consequently possesses the daughter (Rachel Hurd-Wood). One of the classic ghost stories is brought to the screen, but with a twist that virtually begs you to ignore everything that led up to it. It’s a 19th … Continue reading An American Haunting
