Category: Drama
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42: Somewhere between legend and reality
42 – 2013 Writer and Director Brian Helgeland Starring Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Andre Holland, Christopher Meloni, John C. McGuinley, Lucas Black, Alan Tudyk, Nichole Beharie, C. J. Nitkowski, Brett Cullen, Ryan Merriman, T.R. Knight, Hamish Linklater, Brad Beyer, Jesse Luken, Max Gail, Peter MacKenzie, Linc Hand Somewhere in the middle of 42, a pitcher named Fritz Ostermueller…
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Mud: The dream of love lives on
Mud – 2012 Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols Starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shephard, Jacob Lofland, Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon, Michael Shannon, Joe Don Baker, Stuart Greer, Michael Abbott, Jr., Bonnie Sturdivant I was never more fiercely dedicated to the pursuit of love than when I was in the Grade School. My nerves…
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Admission is smartly compassionate
Admission – 2013 Directed by Paul Weitz Starring Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Michael Sheen, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn, Nat Wolff, Gloria Reuben, Tavaris Spears Screenplay Karen Croner based on Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz The gift that Tina Fey brings to her movies is not limited to laughs. It’s straight up compassion. Her characters are often self-depreciating, but intelligent. Maybe what she…
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Phantom: That clunking you hear is not the sub
Phantom – 2013 Writer and Director Todd Robinson Starring Ed Harris, David Duchovny, William Fichtner, Lance Henriksen, Johnathon Schaech, Julian Adams, Jason Beghe There is a point at the beginning of Phantom where the boat crew is prepping K-129 for its last mission. As we get exposition from many of the principal cast members, we see nameless crewmen pulling endless amounts of…
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Dead Man Down: Since they rarely stand up…
Dead Man Down – 2013 Director Niels Arden Oplev Starring Colin Ferrell, Noomi Rapace, Terence Howard, Dominic Cooper, Isabelle Huppert, F. Murray Abraham, Armand Assante Written by J.H. Wyman A good movie with a stupid title is often impossible to overcome. Dead Man Down is a multi-tiered revenge tale in which a mobster Alphonse Hoyt (Howard) feels the…
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Upside Down: Two worlds, many aching necks
Upside Down – 2012 Written and Directed by Juan Diego Solanas Starring Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst, Timothy Spall, Jane Heitmayer, Blu Mankuma If you can get past the concept that two planets can be connected by one building without ripping apart that building as the planets rotate in the revolution around their own sun, you might like…
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Cloud Atlas: And then a bunch of stuff happened…
Cloud Atlas – 2012 Writers and Directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, Tom Tykwer Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant Based on Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell If there’s one thing I learned from the time tripping global opus known…
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Quartet is a beautiful study of music becoming sweeter
Quartet – 2012 Director Dustin Hoffman Starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon Screenplay Ronald Harwood There is a moment early on in Quartet when Wilf, who is played with a casual brilliance by Billy Connolly, comes upon a fellow boarder at Beecham house while on his morning walk. The man…
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Side Effects is full frontal storytelling
Side Effects – 2013 Director Steven Soderbergh Starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vinessa Shaw Screenplay Scott Z. Burns There is a propulsive feeling to the first 1/3 of Side Effects. It’s a little like we’re heading towards inevitable disaster. Once disaster strikes, the viewer is somewhat shocked, and like Dr. Jonathan Banks…
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