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Zero Dark 30
Jan. 30, 2013 *
....the
screen is dark, frightened voices are heard. They are the 9/11 victims talking
to 911 or leaving messages for their love ones. Fade to desert blgs. People are
talking/yelling to a tortured informant. You can smell the room. Feel the fear but
it's a different fear from 2 mins ago.
No need to discuss what happens next. It is long, maybe too long at
points, but informative. The movie showed how human intuition rules over mathematical certainty. B
Hyde Park on The Hudson
Jan. 01, 2013
I can't
remember which client told me to see this short over rated movie. If it wasn't
for the scenery of the New York State countryside I would give it a"F". First off it was 90 mins long. All movies should be at least
110mins. Otherwise they are named as a short. Second, Bill Murray is not a president. He was excellent in Moonrise Kingdom and Caddy
Shack.
The movie was set in Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park NY on the weekend
when the king and queen of England came to secure the US's friendship before
WWII. FDR in this movie seems more concerned with juggling women like hookers than
addressing the urgency of Hitler’s advancements. In the films defining scene on a Hudson Valley hilltop, the moves FDR puts on Daisy makes Bill Clinton's treatment
of Monica look almost gallant.
D-
Jack Reacher
Jan. 01, 2013
Let’s face it. Tom Cruise is a wackadoddle. However he can
act and type casts well in an action packed edge of your seat thriller.
This movie was ridiculously bad. Don't even rent it. First off.. Tom keep your
shirt on. You need to do some pilates or have a stunt double. I truly wanted
this film to be exciting with an edgy romance. There wasn't even a
kiss...seriously it's Tom Cruise.
In the novel, Reacher is supposed to be a towering 6 foot 5
inch blue-eyed blond haired, slow moving 50 inch chested hulk, but here Tom
Cruise steps in about a whole foot shorter, brunette, puny and agile. The
strange casting choices mars the experience for fans of the novels..that would
be me.
I give it a C-..only because I like Pittsburgh.
Silver Linings PlayBook
Dec. 22, 2012
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK manages to juggle football, ballroom dancing, mental illness, romance, obsession, and Raisin Bran into one well-constructed satisfying motion picture. I heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good holiday love affair between two highly damaged individuals. And let’s face it, who doesn’t? The movie is billed as a comedy, I would consider it much more a drama with some comedic overtones. Finally a good dramatic roll for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence is a young Claire Danes. She was excellent in Winter's Bone and this year I expect her to be nominated for another.
I give the movie B+
Lincoln
Dec. 01, 2012
The film is about Abraham Lincoln's (or rather, Daniel Day-Lewis's, in a masterful portrayal) struggle to push through the 13th Amendment. In other words, to finally outlaw slavery. Lincoln is up against an immensely tight timeline, however. It's widely understood throughout the House of Representatives that to end slavery is to demolish the Confederacy's economy, thus ending the war. So, the amendment must be passed before the war to garner the votes of otherwise racist politicians. "Lincoln," both character and film, seem to struggle with the question of whether smaller evils are necessary to conquer a great one. The outcome is obvious to anyone with the most elementary understanding of history, yet Spielberg still conjures considerable suspense over the amendment's fate.
Many great movies dive into the darker side of humanity, exploring our warped psyches, and our tendencies for violence. Yet all the same, sometimes it's all too refreshing to see a film about good people doing good things. By offering a simple window into a pivotal month toward the end of Lincoln's life, this is a movie that pulls a figure of magnanimous reputation down to our level, daring us to see what makes him tick. I adore Lincoln, and I adore "Lincoln."
I give it an A.
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