WHO’S IN CONTROL? During a live broadcast of a financial talk show, a distraught young man (Jack O’Connell) takes the host (George Clooney) hostage and blames him for the loss of his savings. After directing episodes of TV shows, Jodie Foster returned to the silver screen with this thriller-drama that’s largely set in a TV … Continue reading Money Monster
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD. In 1959, an African-American family moves into a white neighborhood at the same time as two men break into another family’s home, a crime that ends in a death. The Coen brothers were inspired by a real-life story when they came up with the idea for this movie. A huge problem … Continue reading Suburbicon
IMAGINE A PLACE WHERE NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) finds a pin that shows her a vision of a futuristic place called Tomorrowland that’s invisible to everyone else; soon she’s on the run with a mysterious girl (Raffey Cassidy)… Another Disney amusement park attraction gets its own movie, as in the case of … Continue reading Tomorrowland
IN A WAR WITHOUT HEROES THEY ARE KINGS. After the Gulf War, a group of Army officers get their hands on a document showing the location of bunkers that might contain gold bullion that Iraqi soldiers stole from Kuwait… Director David O. Russell’s first major critical breakthrough may look like Kelly’s Heroes (1970) on paper, … Continue reading Three Kings
LIGHTS. CAMERA. ABDUCTION. In 1951, Hollywood fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) juggles a busy life, including trying to find out where the studio’s biggest star (George Clooney) has disappeared… The Coen brothers on familiar turf, with yet another kidnapping and a comedy set half a century ago. The biggest appeal here is how lovingly the … Continue reading Hail, Caesar!
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
IT WAS THE GREATEST ART HEIST IN HISTORY. In 1943, art conservationist Frank Stokes (George Clooney) talks President Roosevelt into allowing him to form an Army unit consisting of art historians and various experts, with the task of saving as many works of art from the Nazis as possible. Based on true events, this film … Continue reading The Monuments Men
DON’T LET GO. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and the most famous person working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, was surprised the other day to learn how media had reported on a series of tweets he’d made where he pointed out scientific mistakes in Gravity. He felt compelled to explain himself. … Continue reading Gravity: More Science, Less Hollywood
REAL SPIES… ONLY SMALLER. Two retired spies (Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino), who are now married and raising two kids (Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara), are suddenly called back to action – and the children end up in danger. A surprisingly family-friendly adventure from Robert Rodriguez who gets a lot of help in the charm department by … Continue reading Spy Kids
EVERY MAN FIGHTS HIS OWN WAR. “I didn’t think he was capable of betrayal of this magnitude.” That quote is lifted from an Entertainment Weekly interview with one of the producers of this film, Robert Michael Geisler. He was referring to director Terrence Malick and those words illustrate to what degree the relationship between these … Continue reading Thin Red Line: Days of Hell
In a recent interview, Alexander Payne said that he’s only made minor films and that he’s still hoping to make a really good one someday. Well, considering his output (five films, all of them deserving three-and-a-half to five-star ratings), he’d better deliver one hell of a classic masterpiece in the future. The Descendants, his first … Continue reading The Descendants: Trouble in Paradise
AMBITION SEDUCES. POWER CORRUPTS. Shortly ahead of a Democratic presidential primary in Ohio, Pennsylvania Governor Mike Morris’s (George Clooney) junior campaign manager (Ryan Gosling) learns a few lessons about the difference between ideology and politics. Clooney and his crew expanded Beau Willimon’s play (which was based on the 2004 Howard Dean campaign) and turns it into … Continue reading The Ides of March
After a mission in Sweden goes terribly wrong, an assassin (George Clooney) arrives in Italy and hides out in a small town where he gets to know a girl (Violante Placido)… but his enemies are after him. Director Anton Corbijn followed his impressive debut Control (2007) with a thriller that some critics found pretentious. Actually, they’re confusing … Continue reading The American
