Detroit movie street riot scene: The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow tackles the 1967 Detroit riots in “horribly real” and “deeply self-serving” 2017 release marketed as a “dramatic thriller.” Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Detroit’ movie: Horribly real semidocumentary or self-serving Hollywood depiction of…
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Women’s suffrage movie Mothers of Men: Dorothy Davenport becomes a judge and later State Governor in socially conscious thriller about U.S. women’s voting rights. Are females too emotional to be objective? Women’s suffrage movie ‘Mothers of Men’: Will women’s right to vote lead to the…
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Money Monster with George Clooney and Jack O’Connell: TV celebrity and unwise investor/hostage-taker in Jodie Foster-directed socially conscious drama that is severely handicapped by a mix of pretentiousness and cowardice. ‘Money Monster’ review: Jodie Foster movie suffers from both qualitative and intellectual disconnect Sometimes there’s…
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‘Chi-Raq’ movie with Teyonah Parris: Spike Lee has set ‘Lysistrata’ amidst Chicago’s urban warfare. Chiraq (one word) stands for the Chicago-Iraq combo. ‘Chi-Raq’ movie review: Ancient Greek comedy in 21st-century Chiraq setting The star of Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq is an astounding young actress named Teyonah…
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Music of the Heart cast: Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, Gloria Estefan, and Angela Bassett. ‘Music of the Heart’: Unusually bloodless Wes Craven movie works as Meryl Streep showcase Wes Craven, the director of the Scream franchise and of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, is…
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Euthanasia drama The Sea Inside with Javier Bardem. In Alejandro Amenábar’s euthanasia drama, Javier Bardem plays a tetraplegic Spaniard fighting for the right to end his life in a country where – like just about everywhere else –assisted suicide is legally akin to murder. One…
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‘Teacher of the Year’ movie features Keegan-Michael Key. ‘Teacher of the Year’ movie: Smart and funny socially conscious comedy Teacher of the Year manages to pull off one of the more difficult balancing acts in filmmaking: it actually is smart while still being funny. Teacher…
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Yesterday movie: South African AIDS drama features Leleti Khumalo and Lihle Mvelase. ‘Yesterday’ movie: Fantastic central performance in South African AIDS drama To date, nowhere has the AIDS pandemic been felt more strongly than in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to approximately 16 percent of the world’s…
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The Insider movie: Al Pacino and Russell Crowe in Michael Mann’s corporate greed drama. ‘The Insider’ movie review: CBS News exposé barks but doesn’t bite Michael Mann’s 1999 movie The Insider quote exchange: “It’s old news. … We’ll be ok,” says Don Hewitt (Philip Baker…
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A Hatful of Rain with Don Murray and Eva Marie Saint. ‘A Hatful of Rain’ movie script fails to find cinematic voice as most of the cast hams it up Based on a play by Michael V. Gazzo, A Hatful of Rain is an interesting…
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Hold Back the Dawn: Olivia de Havilland with co-stars Charles Boyer and Paulette Goddard. ‘Hold Back the Dawn’ 1941 movie: Olivia de Havilland steals show as small-town teacher in love Olivia de Havilland shines in Mitchell Leisen’s melodrama Hold Back the Dawn, a sort of…
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Pioneering woman director Lois Weber movie ‘Shoes,’ with Mary MacLaren. Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama ‘Shoes’ screening In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theater – a.k.a. the Packard Campus for Audio…
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Jean Arthur. Jean Arthur films on TCM includes three Frank Capra classics of the 1930s Five Jean Arthur films will be shown this evening, Monday, Jan. 5, ’15, on Turner Classic Movies. Among these are three titles directed by Frank Capra, the man who helped…
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Selma movie with David Oyelowo as Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. ‘Selma’ movie review: Politically salient in the early 21st century The title of director Ava DuVernay’s historical drama Selma tells us what the film is about, while implying what it isn’t about.…
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Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, Frank Capra There is a tendency among some to think that all the art produced by a great artist is great. This is false, but it gives cover for bad critics who just recycle old blurbs about said artist. Think of…
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Umberto D. with Flike and Carlo Battisti. Lost between the glare of The Bicycle Thief (1948) and his later films with Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica’s 1952 drama Umberto D. stands as an almost forgotten masterpiece of Italian neorealism and one of the last films that…