Oz: The Great and Powerful Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Fairy tale prequels, sequels, remakes, and reimaginings have been all the rage at the multiplex over the past few years. And while The Wizard of Oz isn’t exactly a fairy tale, comparing Oz: The Great and Powerful to films like Snow White and the Huntsman and Jack the Giant Slayer isn’t unreasonable. […]
Moneyball Review
RATING: (4 STARS) While Moneyball might seem like an odd cinematic fit, the dream writing team of Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zailian transform the story of the 2002 Oakland A’s into something exciting, emotionally-involving, and surprisingly thoughtful. Though the film (thankfully) doesn’t shy away from the nuts and bolts of building a successful baseball team, […]
Burn After Reading Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There are two types of Coen Brothers films—ones that examine human nature and consequence and others that are just utterly absurd. Burn After Reading, like The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona, falls squarely into the latter category. It’s a film about incomprehensibly dumb people doing incomprehensibly dumb things. None of it makes […]
No Country for Old Men Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Has there ever been a more unlikely Best Picture winner than No Country for Old Men? It’s a dark, somewhat cold picture that will confound your expectations at every turn. I’ve probably seen it about a dozen times, and I find something different to love about it each time—from the brilliant performances […]
The Hudsucker Proxy Review
RATING: (3 STARS) While The Hudsucker Proxy doesn’t quite reach the same level of insanity as the Coen Brothers’ earlier effort Raising Arizona, it certainly falls on the comedic side of their spectrum. What’s interesting about the film is that it’s relatively successful in two very different types of comedy—satire and screwball. The former is […]
Barton Fink Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Until watching Barton Fink, I honestly thought the Coens could do no wrong. I had never seen a film of theirs that I didn’t at least like or admire on some level. This one I just didn’t get, to be honest. The film spins its wheels for nearly two hours and in […]
True Grit (2010) Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) If the Coen Brothers’ trademark is unpredictable and unexpected, True Grit is another solidly Coen-esque film. Why? Because it’s such a straight-forward well-told Western that we keep waiting around for some standard Coen twists and turns. But they don’t arrive. I didn’t have a problem with that per se, but it did […]
A.I. Artificial Intelligence Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The origins of A.I. are well-known. The story was the brainchild of Stanley Kubrick, but he refused to make it into a film until technology was advanced enough to do it justice. He died before ever getting the chance to make the film. Enter Steven Spielberg, who was entranced by Kubrick’s story. […]
