A Good Day to Die Hard *** Short Take: This 5th installment in the Die Hard series lacks bite due to an underdeveloped storyline and villains who lack charisma. Reel Take: I have seen every one of the Die Hard movies since the first one appeared back in 1988. ThatContinue Reading
Broken City ***1/2 Short Take: Well made contemporary film noir covers no new ground but does what it needs to do thanks to a strong cast and solid direction from Allen Hughes. Reel Take: Broken City is another in the seemingly endless line of low profile films where I findContinue Reading
Hitchcock ****1/2 Short Take: An utterly entertaining look at Alma and Alfred Hitchcock’s marriage during the production of Psycho. Reel Take: I admit that prior to seeing Hitchcock, I had reservations. From the trailers, I thought Anthony Hopkins looked possibly even creepier as Alfred Hitchcock than he did as HannibalContinue Reading
A Late Quartet ****1/2 Short Take: A truly remarkable film about the members of a string quartet and the challenges they face after a member is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Reel Take: The first of many pleasant surprises regarding A Late Quartet occurred right at the beginning when the filmContinue Reading
Argo **** Short Take: Actor, Director Ben Affleck brings the now de-classified story of the covert operation to free six Americans during the 1980 Iranian Revolution to the big screen. Reel Take: For those of us who remember the Iranian hostage crisis that began in 1979 and ended just asContinue Reading
Arbitrage **** Short Take: Tense, well made character study of a charming but duplicitous financier whose perfect life suddenly spins out of control. Reel Take: Time was when a new film by Richard Gere would have garnered a major release by a major studio and been surrounded lots of publicity.Continue Reading
The Bourne Legacy ***1/2 Short Take: There was never just one. Reel Take: The tag line for The Bourne Legacy is “There was never just one.” This is a fitting line to lure Bourne fans (like myself) to the theatre. Written and directed by Bourne architect Tony Gilroy, The BourneContinue Reading
The Amazing Spiderman ***1/2 Short Take: Remake of the first Tobey McGuire Spiderman film is well acted, well staged, and well photographed but winds up being totally forgettable. Reel Take: It would appear that we have now reached the stage where it is necessary to reboot successful comic book heroContinue Reading
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter *** Short Take: Beautifully mounted, immensely unsatisfying mix of history and fantasy that takes itself WAY too seriously. Reel Take: As a native Southerner, I should have been greatly offended or at least annoyed by the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.Abraham Lincoln has always been a polarizingContinue Reading
