Archive for September, 2011
Antonio Banderas (Robert Ledgard), Elena Anaya (Vera). Screenplay by Pedro Almodóvar. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Rating: 15. Running time: 117 minutes. If there’s a single theme that ties the young Pedro to the celebrated auteur we have today, it’s undoubtedly the sexual insanity that infiltrates his early, mad comedies and travels right through to the […]
Filed under: drama, hispanic | Leave a Comment
Tags: all about my mother, anderson, antonio banderas, antonioni, bill cutting, black comedy, blowup, broken embraces, coen brothers, edward daniels, elena anaya, hitchcock, insanity, kika, madness, no country for old men, pedro almodovar, rape, sexuality, talk to her, the skin i live in, there will be blood, travis bickle, vertigo, volver
Ryan Gosling (Jacob Palmer), Steve Carell (Cal Weaver), Julianne Moore (Emily Weaver), Emma Stone (Hannah), Marisa Tomei (Kate), Kevin Bacon (David Lindhagen), Analeigh Tipton (Jessica). Screenplay by Dan Fogelman. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. Rating: 12A. Running time: 118 minutes. I sometimes wonder if I should add to my list of the most […]
Filed under: comedy, drama, romance | Leave a Comment
Tags: blue valentine, crazy stupid love, emma stone, ftse, glenn ficarra, hollywood, john requa, julianne moore, kevin bacon, marisa tomei, ryan gosling, steve carell
Marcello Mastroianni (Giovanni Pontano), Jeanne Moreau (Lidia), Monica Vitti (Valentina). Screenplay by Michelangelo Antonioni et al. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Rating: 12. Running time: 115 minutes. Excruciatingly sluggish to the extent that it threatens to rival a Bergman film for reaching new heights on the boringometer, Antonioni’s La Notte is seemingly content to hobble along at a pace that will test even […]
Filed under: drama | Leave a Comment
Tags: antonioni, blowup, contempt, jeanne moureau, l'avventura, la notte, milan, pantomime, revolutionary road, tate modern, theatre
Julia Roberts (Vivian Ward), Richard Gere (Edward Lewis), Laura San Giacomo (Kit De Luca). Screenplay by J. F. Lawton. Directed by Garry Marshall. Rating: 15. Running time: 119 minutes. If there’s an unintended message to be found in the infuriating fluff that is Pretty Woman, it’s not that you can ascend from selling sex on […]
Filed under: comedy, romance | Leave a Comment
Tags: garry marshall, hitler, julia roberts, la, leni riefenstahl, new york, pretty woman, richard gere, roy orbison, sex, shakespeare
Kate Winslet (April Wheeler), Leonardo DiCaprio (Frank Wheeler), Michael Shannon (John Givings), Kathy Bates (Mrs. Givings). Screenplay by Justin Haythe. Directed by Sam Mendes. Rating: 15. Running time: 119 minutes. If you approach Revolutionary Road in the wrong mood it could go down very badly indeed. First there’s the romantic atmosphere, involving you naively suggesting to […]
Filed under: america, drama, philosophy of life | 1 Comment
Tags: 50s, abortion, alienation, connecticut, grand central, kate winslet, leonardo dicaprio, new york, paris, pink floyd, revolutionary road, richard yates, sam mendes, schindler's list, suburbia, TIME
Directed by Michael Moore. Rating: 12. Running time: 127 minutes. It may not be novel to highlight the flaws of our world, especially when your subject is the age-old problems stemming from the commodification of everything from land to humans. But as I argued in the case of Fahrenheit 9/11, that a film’s material is […]
Filed under: america, documentary, politics | Leave a Comment
Tags: a love story, america, capitalism, carter, dead peasants, lehman brothers, marx, michael moore, new york times, obama, reagan, rousseau, socialism, subprime mortgages, walmart
Directed by Michael Moore. Rating: 15. Running time: 122 minutes. I’m not sure this will be as much a film review as a miniature political outburst, but perhaps that’s inevitable when you make a documentary about 9/11 as controversial as this. Moore won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, it is true, and that’s no mean […]
Filed under: america, documentary, politics, war | Leave a Comment
Tags: afghanistan, bush, cannes, christopher hitchens, daniel plainview, fahrenheit 9/11, iraq, michael moore, palme d'or, quentin tarantino, september 11th, taxi driver, tree of life
