Director M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth is less the sci-fi action story it purports to be, and more a meditation on the prickly nature of the father-son relationship. After Earth is set far into the future, a thousand years after earth has become uninhabitable. The planet to which humans had been evacuated relies on the […]
Astrology: Fashion: ‘Frances Ha’ and the Pencil Skirt
May 15, 2013 by
The classic pencil skirt worn by Greta Gerwig’s Frances, the lovable 27-year-old gal-in-transition heroine in the new movie Frances Ha, is an aspirational one for this character. Her life is sprawling out of control, as she experiences unstable housing arrangements, a modern-dance career that’s spiraling ever out of reach, and the potential loss of her […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Frances Ha’ (2013)
May 14, 2013 by
Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha is a tribute to both the magic that happens when love and work are well integrated in a person’s life, and the chaos that ensues when either or both of these elements are out of sync. Twenty-seven-year-old Frances (Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script) is the poster child for anyone […]
Astrology: Fashion: Andrea Riseborough’s Gray Matter in ‘Oblivion’
April 18, 2013 by
Victoria’s (Andrea Riseborough) minimalist, high-altitude office in Oblivion may be an irritably long commute but you’ll covet her snappy, gray dress that’s a perfect fit for both the horizontal monitor board and the board room. Under the aegis of the movie’s costume designer Marlene Stewart, the one-piecer is a breathtakingly elegant, slightly above-the-knee belted sheath, […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Admission’ (2013)
March 22, 2013 by
Being an admissions officer at Princeton University suggests a fascination with noble Jupiterian concerns such as higher mind and an eagerness to expand the noggins of incoming freshmen. Unfortunately, Portia Nathan (Tina Fey), Admission’s unlikely heroine, is so bogged down by Saturnine rules, metrics and weeding out the chaff that her tightly coiled self – […]
Film: ‘This Is 40’ (2012)
December 19, 2012 by
Director Judd Apatow’s “This Is 40” puts his “Knocked Up” couple Pete and Debbie under the microscope in this bright sort-of sequel. Debbie (Leslie Mann, Apatow’s real-life wife) is celebrating – or rather, not celebrating – turning 40. But as significant as that chronological milestone is for most people, Apatow bathes his movie in non-significance. […]
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: ‘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: ‘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: ‘The Good Doctor’ (2012)
September 7, 2012 by
For many people, bedside manner plays a big role in assessing how “good” a physician is. In “The Good Doctor,” Martin Blake (Orlando Bloom), a British doctor doing a residency in the U.S., has an inspired connection with his patient Diane (Riley Keough) that’s off-the-charts impressive: caring, calming and sweetly personal. But we’ve previously seen […]
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