The Monthly Reel
The films I reviewed this month all shared a common denominator; people placed in dire and near hopeless situations.
All is lost for Robert Redford; Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are lost in space; and, Tom Hanks stars in a pirate movie that will never have an amusement park ride named after it.
Cuaron’s Gravity is one of the must-see movies this year and it must be seen in the theatre, preferably in 3-D. All is Lost (opening locally in mid-November) will be lost on most everyone except die-hard Redford fans (which I am) and a select group of art-house film goers. Captain Phillips was the revelatory film to me, a suspenseful and humanely nuanced in spite of a rather jarring accent from Hanks.
Meanwhile the good Professor Kaufmann plundered his way through the bloodier, grittier side of recent movie fare, taking in the blood spattered remake of Carrie, Stallone and Schwartzenager doing what they do best with the support of Geritol in Escape Plan, and Robert Rodriquez’s campy sequel to Machete, Machete Kills.
At press time we found ourselves in hopeful anticipation of Ridley Scott’s latest film, The Counselor. It looks razor sharp and has a great cast but has been shown to very few critics prior to its release. We were both also curious about the not-so-mainstream horror film We Are What We Are. Fellow critic, Ken Hanke calls it ‘art house horror.’ None of us are quite sure who its audience is going to be, but for the right audience, it looks like it will be quite satisfying.
Happily, there are some wonderful new releases each week this month, so you’ll have plenty to choose from at your local cinema. Titles to be sure to catch include 12 Years a Slave, About Time, Dallas Buyer’s Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Nebraska.
Next month, with the holidays in full swing and the Oscar race in full gear, there’ll be even more films vying for your expendable income.