A great actor and movie star, Albert Finney, is dead at the age of 82. In the clip above, an interview from 1984, he talks about finding the right way to play then-Pope John Paul II in a TV movie, adopting advice from John Gielgud who told him to borrow a few physical details or … Continue reading Albert Finney, 1936–2019
SOONER OR LATER, YOUR PAST CATCHES UP TO YOU. When Christopher Robin grows up, he goes to London to work for a luggage firm; even though he has a wife and a daughter his life is focused on work… until he meets Pooh again. Not to be confused with the A.A. Milne biography Goodbye Christopher … Continue reading Christopher Robin
SOPHISTICATION HAS A NAME. Lord Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp), an art dealer and swindler who owes the U.K. government a lot of money, reluctantly agrees to help inspector Alistair Martland (Ewan McGregor) find a stolen Goya painting. This adaptation of a novel that’s part of a popular series of comic thrillers was maligned by critics … Continue reading Mortdecai
BE OUR GUEST. When her father (Kevin Kline) is taken prisoner by a beast (Dan Stevens) inside a huge, wintry castle, Belle (Emma Watson) offers herself in exchange for his freedom. Another live-action remake of an animated Disney classic. This one can’t escape a certain sense of pointlessness considering how close it stays to the … Continue reading Beauty and the Beast
Twenty years after Mark Renton’s (Ewan McGregor) betrayal, he returns home to Edinburgh to face his old friends; at the same time, the incorrigible Begbie (Robert Carlyle) escapes from prison… This belated sequel to Trainspotting (1996) reunited the cast and crew and is certainly a nostalgia piece for everybody involved, audiences included. Just like the … Continue reading T2 Trainspotting
CHOOSE LIFE. CHOOSE A JOB. CHOOSE A DENTAL INSURANCE, LEISURE WEAR AND MATCHING LUGGAGE. CHOOSE YOUR FUTURE. BUT WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO DO A THING LIKE THAT? In 1996, Republican Senator Bob Dole was fighting an uphill battle as his party’s presidential nominee to defeat Bill Clinton. As he was attacking the President and … Continue reading Trainspotting: Flirting with Death
SHE TURNED TO HER PAST TO PROTECT HER FAMILY. When her husband (Noah Emmerich) comes home with bullet wounds, Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) teams up with a neighbor (Joel Edgerton) to fight a criminal gang. A troubled production eventually brought together director Gavin O’Connor and Edgerton (who both worked on Warrior (2011)) and they’ve staged … Continue reading Jane Got a Gun
While vacationing in Morocco with his wife (Naomie Harris), a university teacher (Ewan McGregor) is befriended by a boisterous Russian (Stellan Skarsgård) who turns out to have laundered money for the Russian mob… Another John le Carré screen adaptation that entertains for the moment but fails to ignite the screen. Skarsgård and Damian Lewis are … Continue reading Our Kind of Traitor
EVERY GENERATION HAS A STORY. There are some people out there who call themselves fans of Star Wars but still prefer to pretend like the trilogy of prequels that George Lucas created in 1999-2005 never happened, even though they were as excited about them before the premiere as they are now when the saga continues … Continue reading The Force Awakens: Saving Another Franchise
BRING PROTECTION. Arizona, 1882; sheep farmer Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) loses his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) due to a lack of ambition and courage, but a newcomer (Charlize Theron) in town tries to help him win her back. MacFarlane’s second directing effort reunites the same writers who made Ted (2012) so funny, but results this time … Continue reading A Million Ways to Die in the West
THEY LEFT HER NO CHOICE. After a successful mission to Barcelona, covert operative Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is sent to Dublin to pose as the wife of an MI6 agent (Michael Fassbender) – but realizes that she’s been set up. 2012 was a busy year for director Steven Soderbergh, but this action flick has better … Continue reading Haywire
NO GOATS. NO GLORY. After flying to Kuwait to report on the Iraq War, journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) meets a retired Army operator (George Clooney) who’s been trained in parapsychological skills. You really want to love this film, but it squanders a good opportunity. Loosely based on an actual military initiative, the script chronicles … Continue reading The Men Who Stare at Goats
MISERY LOVES FAMILY. When the Weston family patriarch (Sam Shepard) disappears one day, the oldest daughter (Julia Roberts) goes back to her childhood home in Oklahoma; she’s never been able to get along with her pill-popping mother (Meryl Streep). The very dark hit play gets its equally claustrophobic film adaptation. Featuring strong, in some cases … Continue reading August: Osage County
