THEY’RE COMING. Baltimore, 1990; a mysterious man (Bruce Willis) ends up in a mental institution where he tells the doctors that he comes from the future, looking for a virus that’s going to wipe out billions of people. Terry Gilliam put his stamp on this feature film version of a French 1962 short called La … Continue reading Twelve Monkeys
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. 80-year-old Fred Barcroft (Christopher Plummer) is moved against his will into an apartment in New Orleans; his neighbor is a slightly younger woman (Shirley MacLaine) with a completely different outlook on life… A remake of a 2005 Spanish-Argentine movie where opposites attract, but that doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly. The two … Continue reading Elsa & Fred
J. PAUL GETTY HAD A FORTUNE. EVERYONE ELSE PAID THE PRICE. In 1973, the grandson (Charlie Plummer) of the world’s richest man, J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), is kidnapped by Italian mobsters and a ransom is demanded; however, Getty refuses to pay. This sordid, reality-based story is vividly brought to life by Ridley Scott who … Continue reading All the Money in the World
WARNING: EXPOSING THE TRUTH MAY BE HAZARDOUS. I work for a major newspaper in Scandinavia. That means we are a powerful voice in the Swedish media landscape. But just like every other newspaper or network, we are owned by somebody, in this case a Norwegian corporation. The relationship between us and our owners is complicated, … Continue reading The Insider: Under Pressure
RADIANCE THAT FLOODS THE SCREEN… AND WARMS THE HEART! The movie is too good to be true. The real-life von Trapp family in Austria, whose adventures were chronicled by Maria von Trapp in a 1949 best-selling book called ”The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, did not escape Nazi-invaded Austria as dramatically as in the … Continue reading Sound of Music: Still Climbing Ev’ry Mountain
INSIDE EVERY MAN THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE – ONE GOOD, ONE BEAST. Publishing editor Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is bitten by a wolf in Vermont; in the following days, as he falls victim to workplace intrigue, Will realizes that he’s going through strange changes… Jim Harrison, who came up with the story, wasn’t happy about … Continue reading Wolf
SOMETIMES, AN ACCIDENT CAN BE AN UNHAPPY WOMAN’S BEST FRIEND. During a critical scene between Dolores Claiborne (Kathy Bates) and her abusive husband Joe (David Strathairn), she tells him that he’s likely to end up in Shawshank Prison. Fans of Stephen King will recognize this as a typical sign that the story takes place in … Continue reading Dolores Claiborne: Island of Misery
At first, Norman Jewison was considered as director of a movie chronicling the life of Malcolm X. After all, he had done a great job on In the Heat of the Night (1967), a film that took on the racial conflicts of that period in America. Jewison was interested in the project, but there was … Continue reading Malcolm X: How Little Became Huge
EVERYONE WANTS TO FIND IT. Hector (Simon Pegg), who’s bored with his perfect little dull life, tells his girlfriend (Rosamund Pike) that he needs to go away on a journey east to find out what exactly makes people happy. Much like Eat Pray Love (2010), this movie offers banal answers to difficult questions and has … Continue reading Hector and the Search for Happiness
SOME FIGHTS ARE BIGGER THAN THE RING. In 1971, Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam War becomes a case for the U.S. Supreme Court, but Chief Justice Warren Burger (Frank Langella) believes it has no merits. His name may be in the title, but in this HBO drama the champ only appears … Continue reading Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight
THE WAR IS ETERNAL. HIS MISSION IS JUST THE BEGINNING. When Priest (Paul Bettany), who’s part of the elite warriors who won a war between humans and vampires, tries to warn the leaders of the current worldwide theocracy that the bloodsuckers are back, no one believes him. The man behind Legion (2010) turns the South Korean … Continue reading Priest
As a man (Heath Ledger) who tried to hang himself joins a traveling theater troupe in England, its ancient leader (Christopher Plummer) is worried about a deal he once made with the Devil. Just like the drunken idiot who in the film’s early scenes is sucked into the mysterious world on the other side of … Continue reading The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
THIS IS WHAT LOVE FEELS LIKE. The buzz surrounding this film on its premiere related to Christopher Plummer’s performance as an elderly man coming out to his son. That is undeniably an inspiring part of the film, but it’s not what touched me the most. A lot of people who’ve seen this film likely relate … Continue reading Beginners: Waiting for the Lion
