The Hunger Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Get a load of the description for Tony Scott’s debut film, 1983’s The Hunger. From IMDb: “A love triangle develops between a beautiful yet dangerous vampire, her cellist companion, and a gerontologist.” Excuse me? A vampire, cellist, AND a gerontologist? They’re all here AND in the same eternal love triangle? Yes, and […]
The Company You Keep Review
RATING: (2 STARS) If there’s one thing to take away from Robert Redford’s The Company We Keep, it’s that few individuals keep better company than Redford. No film this year (unless, in the cast of Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder, we’re counting the many great actors and actresses missing from the final cut) boasts a […]
Arbitrage Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage takes the 2008 financial crisis and puts a conspiracy thriller twist on it. It’s unique in that the story is told from the point of view of a man who, in 95 percent of films, would unequivocally be labeled a villain. Richard Gere’s Robert Miller definitely isn’t one of […]
Jeff, Who Lives at Home Review
RATING: (1.5 STARS) Jay and Mark Duplass have built careers upon stories like that in Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Their most mainstream effort to date is based on a slacker, Jeff, who’s wandering aimlessly through life while he waits for some kind of cosmic direction. It’s vintage Duplass and only different from Baghead or […]
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Review
RATING: (2 STARS) To be perfectly blunt, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a mess. The frustrating thing is that there’s a good film in there somewhere, but it’s bogged down by a slew of dull subplots, jarring shifts in tone and pace, and an ending that’s a total cheat. I didn’t care for Oliver […]
Solitary Man Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Solitary Man reminded me a lot of an earlier 2010 entry, Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give. Both are message films that use their flawed characters to motivate the viewers to doing something. Holofcener’s film wants you to be kinder; Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s film cautions you against taking family and friends for […]
