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….
Movie Reviews – July 2014
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…
Movie Reviews – June 2014
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…
Movie Reviews – May 2014
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…
Movie Reviews – April 2014
Divergent ***1/2 Short Take: Overlong Hunger Games knockoff has its good points including a nice turn from Kate Winslet as the principal villainess. Reel Take: Yet another installment in the…
Movie Reviews – March 2014
The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) ***1/2 Short Take: An exquisitely filmed but overlong and very confusing look back at an Italian writer’s life on the occasion of his 65th…
Movie Reviews – February 2014
August: Osage County **** Short Take: A dysfunctional family reunites and ignites. REEL TAKE: If you think your family has problems, you’ll feel much better, by comparison, after watching August:…
Movie Reviews – January 2014
American Hustle ****1/2 Short Take: A smart, entertaining con job with a glossy 70’s veneer and solid gold soundtrack. REEL TAKE: Fresh off the shining success of Silver Linings Playbook,…
Movie Reviews – December 2013
12 Years a Slave ***** Short Take: The fact-based story of Solomon Northrup, a free black man living in upstate New York in 1841, who was duped by a business…