If good intentions translated into quality filmmaking Brian Percival’s The Book Thief would be among the greatest movies ever made. But alas, purpose of this sort does not translate into quality art and while the director may have his heart in the right place, the result is a stilted tale that becomes bogged down by […]
Chuck Koplinski
Posted inArts & Culture
Philomena engrossing
Judi Dench as Philomena Lee and Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith in Philomena. PHOTO COURTESY THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY When Philomena Lee became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1951, she had very few options. Out of shame, her parents sent her to a convent in Roscrea where she worked as an indentured laundry lady, […]
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McConaughey, Leto shine
Jared Leto as Rayon and Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club PHOTO COURTESY FOCUS FEATURES Very little was known about HIV or AIDS in 1985 when Ron Woodroof was diagnosed as having contracted the virus. Research was underway in order to find out how the spread of this scourge could be arrested […]
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Ender’s Game a pointed tale of moral sacrifice
Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin and Harrison Ford as Colonel Hyrum Graff in Ender’s Game. PHOTO COURTESY SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT Having never read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and assuming that it was just another piece of vapid tween fiction, I was unprepared for the thorny moral issues at its core. I had not anticipated thinking […]
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Marvel formula alive and well in rollicking Thor 2
Without question, Marvel Films has fashioned an effective formula where bringing its superheroes to the big screen is concerned. Each of these adventures sport intelligently written scripts, are impeccably cast, contain the proper balance of action, pathos and humor and are rendered with the best special effects millions upon millions of dollars can buy. What […]
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Slave an unflinching look at America’s shame
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Cumberbatch and Paul Dano in 12 Years a Slave. PHOTO COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES Perhaps it was inevitable that an outsider would be the one who would make the film that would portray America’s Peculiar Institution for the truly horrific practice that it was. We are too far removed to properly understand […]
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Cast not the only thing old in Last Vegas
Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman in Last Vegas. PHOTO COURTESY CBS FILMS Don’t you just laugh and laugh when you see a senior citizen unable to operate a newfangled gadget like a trunk latch in a car? Or how about when they act hip but are really out of touch […]
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Logic and romance clash in Time
Rachel McAdams stars as Mary and Domhnall Gleeson stars as Tim in About Time. PHOTO COURTESY Universal Pictures As written and directed by the man who gave us Love Actually, it comes as no surprise that Richard Curtis’ new film, About Time, is long on charm and romance. Actually has seen a cult following grow […]
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Carrie a worthy, emotional update
While it might not be Citizen Kane, Brian De Palma’s 1976 version of Carrie is a film that many fans view as a landmark work where horror films are concerned. Not only was it the first big screen adaptation of a Stephen King novel but that it had such a strong female protagonist was, at […]
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Stars shine in Enough Said
James Gandolfini as Albert and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Eva in Enough Said. PHOTOS COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES’ There’s an air of melancholy that hangs over Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said. Obviously, some of this is due to the untimely passing of James Gandolfini, who delivers one of his most informed performances, pointing toward what could have […]
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Phillips, gripping tale of two captains
Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES We all like to think that we would behave in heroic fashion when put in a stressful situation. Thankfully, very few of us will find ourselves in the sort of position Captain Richard Phillips did on the morning of April 8, 2009 when four Somali […]
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Don Jon an entertaining look at skewed expectations
If Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s debut as a director proves anything, it’s that he’s a filmmaker to watch. With Don Jon, he not only tackles the thorny issues of sexual addiction and the media’s impact on our perception of the world, but he ably uses editing, camera movement and pace to create an aesthetic that reflects the […]
