The Theory of Everything is a powerful, sincere film about one of the twentieth century’s greatest minds. That it never becomes mired in maudlin sentiment is astounding, given the standard succeeding-despite-the-odds story of its legendary subject, the esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking. The leads are more than adequate; they own the roles of Hawking and his…
The makeup may not look the best, but the early buzz says the acting by the three main players is in Sony Pictures’ biographical drama, Foxcatcher. Based on a true story, it chronicles the highs and the very lows of the relationship between brothers and Olympic Wrestling Champions Mark and Dave Schultz (Channing Tatum and…
Intense is one way to describe the trailer for Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. Heartbreaking is another, as we see the incredibly difficult life or death choices left to Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) to make in the theater of war. As with “Lone Survivor,” this film is based on the memoirs of the actual…
Based on the best-selling novel “Alan Turing: The Enigma” by Andrew Hodges comes The Imitation Game, a character study of Alan Turing, the English mathematician credited with deciphering the Enigma code used by Nazi Germany during WW II. There’s also a fair bit more to it, like the in-house drama within the Government Code and…
The Last of Robin Hood, which focuses on the twilight of Errol Flynn’s life and career, is an uneven mix of brilliant performances and an inert, aimless story. It’s a shame, really, because Flynn’s final days were the stuff of tabloid legend. Here, the trio of main characters are examined only superficially, with scant attention…
Though we know very little about some of the great artists of the past, many say that it is not important because we have the works. Yet the world still longs for knowledge about the living, breathing human being, the man or woman behind the name on the painting or the title page. This element…
A movie musical based on a stage musical built on pre-existing music certainly has some of its work done for it right from the point of cinematic conception, but even with such a head start, Clint Eastwood still applies enough tender, heartfelt identity to his adaptation, Jersey Boys, to make the screen version a touching…
