A Most Wanted Man **** Short Take: When a half-Chechen, half-Russian man with terrorist ties turns up in Hamburg with a claim to his father’s ill-gotten gains, German and U.S. intelligence agencies take notice. REEL TAKE: Based on John le Carre’s 2008 best-selling novel by the same name, A MostContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: Zardoz (1974) Of all the dystopian sci-fi flicks out there from Metropolis to Snowpiercer (see review this issue), none is more unique or more bizarre than British director John Boorman’s 1974 opus Zardoz. Back in the day it was what was known as a “head trip”. TheContinue Reading
22 Jump Street **** Short Take: Our 21 Jump Street loveable lunkheads, officers Schmidt and Jenko, go undercover at college. Reel Take: After seeing The Immigrant and The Rover, both of which are relentlessly grim, I was definitely in the right frame of mind for 22 Jump Street. At pressContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: Judex (1963) If you’re in the mood for something a little out of the ordinary, look no further than this brand new Criterion release of the 1963 French thriller Judex. Director Georges Franju made the poetic horror film Eyes Without a Face (1959) about an obsessed plasticContinue Reading
by Michelle Keenan Usually the summer movie season brings action-packed CGI fests, animated blockbusters and little else. This year that is not the case. Asheville continues to book the usual big budget box office fare as well as a host of smaller titles. Since 2008 the good Professor Kaufmann andContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) While I was watching The Railway Man (see my review this issue), I was struck by how similar it was to a Japanese-English film that I had seen a number of years ago. That movie was Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence from 1983Continue Reading
Who would have thought that a radioactive, fire breathing dragon, originally intended to be a metaphor for the firebombing of Tokyo during World War II, would have turned into a cultural icon known and loved (yes, loved) the world over? Certainly not the Japanese, but that’s exactly what happened withContinue Reading
Belle ***** Short Take: Virtually perfect historical drama on the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, an 18th century woman of mixed race who was raised as an English aristocrat. Reel Take: We are not even halfway through 2014 and already I have 3 films that will currently go on myContinue Reading
Captain America: The Winter Soldier **** Short Take: A surprisingly serious minded action flick that recalls the paranoid political thrillers of the 1970s. REEL TAKE: I was not looking forward to seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier based on the previews but, having seen the first film in the seriesContinue Reading
