There’s a familiarity to Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the first installment of the movie trilogy based on the J.R.R. Tolkien book that preceded “The Lord of the Rings.” That lived-in quality has everything to do with the hero protocol which requires the protagonist’s upheaval from his geographic roots and subsequent trek to […]
Film: ‘Amour’ (2012)
December 11, 2012 by
Unlike romance, where love is enough, the marriage contract also asks for commitment. And no movie tests the longevity of that pledge better than “Amour,” a sobering look at what happens when illness severely tries a long-wed couple. Directed by Michael Haneke, “Amour” is the gut-wrenching story of Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), […]
Film: ‘Les Misérables’ (2012)
December 7, 2012 by
Transforming one’s life is tough enough. What’s worse is the backlash from people who, out of self-interest, preferred you the old way. That’s pretty much the idea behind Tom Hooper’s “Les Misérables,” the extravagant musical film based on the theatrical musical rooted in Victor Hugo’s novel. The story, set in 18th century France during revolutionary […]
Film: ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ (2012)
December 6, 2012 by
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the U.S., would have liked nothing better than to spend all his time at the family home at Hyde Park on Hudson which belonged to his mother, an archetypal lunar figure whose main reason for existence is to nurture. Not surprisingly, in Roger Michell’s “Hyde Park on Hudson,” […]
Film: ‘The Sessions’: John Hawkes Contains Himself in Virgo Role and Scores Spirits Award Nom
November 27, 2012 by
Most Virgos have a thing for containers. Lots of containers. Especially those that nest in each other. John Hawkes, a Virgo, spent most of his time shooting “The Sessions” in such receptacle. An iron lung. “I’m trapped in a big metal box,” says Hawkes’s character in the movie. And his physically confined performance – to […]
Film: ‘Killing Them Softly’ (2012)
November 25, 2012 by
Any thriving business arguably owes a good part of its success to Saturnine measures: firm management and a strict protocol of following rules and weeding out trouble makers. Why should neighborhood mob activities be any different? In “Killing Them Softly,” Andrew Dominik’s riveting and brutally ugly movie about an ill-fated mob-sponsored card game, the rigors […]
Film: ‘Rust and Bone’ (2012)
November 25, 2012 by
The saying goes that we choose relationship partners who balance our weaknesses. In “Rust and Bone,” director Jacques Audiard creates a classic pairing of two people whose physical and psychological gaps need deep healing. Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard), a trainer of orcas who works in a marine theme park in southern France meets Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), […]
Film: ‘Life of Pi’ (2012)
November 25, 2012 by
Seductive, elusive and vividly imaginative Neptune, with its proclivity towards unconscious exploration, blankets Ang Lee’s 3-D “Life of Pi” like a shimmering veil. The movie is as much a tribute to the watery planet as it is a revelation of Lee’s own fascination with fictive truth. “Life of Pi,” which debuted at the New York […]
Film: ‘Hitchcock’ (2012)
November 21, 2012 by
In “Hitchcock,” which recounts the legendary director’s fascination with the subject matter that would become his movie “Psycho,” the adage “Behind every great man there’s a great woman” comes at you like that knife in the iconic shower scene. Alfred Hitchcock, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in Sacha Gervasi’s film, turned “great” into a multi-hyphenate vocation. […]
Film: ‘Hitchcock’: The Big ‘Psycho’ Reveal
November 21, 2012 by
The most grin-inducing segment in“Hitchcock” is the one that features Hitch’s (Anthony Hopkins) brilliant public-relations scheme for the theatrical premiere of his latest movie “Psycho.” “Hitchcock” has already clarified for us that, because the director couldn’t get Paramount to fund the project, he ponied up his own money. That studio agreed to distribute “Psycho,” and […]
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