At first I was going to start my review of All is Bright by remarking that Paul Rudd has the worst Canadian accent I’ve ever heard spoken by a Canadian. Then I realized he was born up the street from me in New Jersey, so that blew that observation out of the water. Now, I’ll…
Based on true events, Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips is the rarest of thrillers, the kind that relies on neither distracting special effects nor circumspect character development. Driven by a powerful, soul-baring performance by the inimitable Tom Hanks, the movie never lags, never oversells the plight of its characters and never reduces anyone or anything to…
The social and psychological effects of bullying are graphically observed in Emir Baigazin’s remarkable first feature Harmony Lessons. Honored at Tribeca and Seattle, the Kazakh-German co-feature also won a Silver Bear for best artistic contribution at the Berlinale, honoring the cinematography of Aziz Zhambakiyev who brilliantly captures the stark beauty of the desolate Kazakhstan landscape….
John Lennon may have said it best with the line from Imagine, “You know I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” Walter Mitty is a dreamer as we can see in in 20th Century Fox’s imaginative trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He’s a pathetically average guy toiling away his days…
Irvine Welsh’s provocative novels seem to be a popular choice when it comes to book-to-film adaptations. It’s no surprise when you look at the success of his controversial debut novel “Trainspotting,” realized on screen with Ewan McGregor as lead Renton and directed by Danny Boyle (who has also recently been confirmed to be working on…
They tried Ben Affleck as as the young Jack Ryan 11 years ago in “The Sum of All Fears” but that experiment didn’t work out so well. Today, we get our first taste of Chris Pine as the infamous operative in the trailer for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Well actually, he doesn’t start out as…
There have been several well-known films about autism including “Rain Man,” “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “The Black Balloon,” but none I’ve seen are more authentic or moving than Sam Fleischner’s remarkable second feature Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. The film, written by Rose Lichter-Marck and Micah Bloomberg and winner of a special…
