Martin Scorsese seems to subscribe to the belief that age is just a number. Arguably the only one of the 70’s “Movie Brats” who hasn’t completely lost his touch (Spielberg being debatable), he continues to churn out films at a frequency that would exhaust a filmmaker half his age. That said, while his latter-period work…
Comb-overs, perms, cravats, disco, embezzlement and corruption — American Hustle has it all and then some. And like Scott Cooper’s film, “Out of the Furnace,” David O. Russell’s production features one of the best ensemble casts of the year. And like that movie it too utilizes Christian Bale to its advantage, but this time he…
Ron Burgundy is an idiot. You would know that even if you didn’t see 2004’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” because in the push to get people to watch the sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, he demonstrated his idiocy in Durango commercials and every late night talk show that would have him. Reporter,…
Like René Clément’s “Forbidden Games,” British director Brian Percival’s The Book Thief focuses on the effect of war on children who are forced by circumstances into coping with events beyond their capacity to understand. Written by Michael Petroni and based on the novel by Australian author Markus Zusak, it is a story told with power…
With its gritty depiction of rundown small town, USA and characters desperate to find their way, Out of the Furnace looks a lot like a film we’d come across before in 1978’s “The Deer Hunter.” But while I don’t suspect Scott Cooper’s film will win any Oscars as Michael Cimino’s did, his all-star cast also…
In a world of ice, Disney finds great warmth. It’s the sort of cutesy irony that sounds like it should be coated in sugar, but with Frozen, Disney takes the sweet concept and transforms it into their most poignant and powerful picture in over a decade. Or nearly even two decades if you consider that…
When my children were young, we went to the killer whale (orca) shows at the Vancouver Aquarium. It was fun to see the 8,000+ pound whales doing tricks for the trainer while the audience was being splashed. We gave little thought, however, to how the whales felt about it. Today, millions who attend SeaWorld shows…
