I was fortunate enough to see this film with two fellows who had not only read the book on which it’s based (Ben Mezrick’s Bringing Down The House), but also had, um, taken the resulting inspiration to more practical levels, shall we say. 21 could be described as a loosely faithful interpretation of a […]

Phillippa Gregory’s book, on which this film is based, is truly excellent. I purposefully did not refresh my memory on the details so that I could let the film unfold on its own merits. Not doing so is a mistake I have suffered for in the past. The plot of the novel […]

Long did I put off watching this film – it’s lonely watching foreign screeners with no companion and I kept hoping for a reprieve, until finally I had to complete my Oscar ballot. And yet I struggle still to find the words to describe this film. Marion Cotillard’s win? Totally justified. Best […]

Based on the autobiographical graphic novel of the same name by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis chronicles how a little Iranian girl has come to live in France today. It’s as simple and as complex as that – and the animation follows suit. Almost entirely in black and white, Persepolis finds its visual complexity in […]

I missed this in the theatre and, sour-grapes-style, presumed it was some half-baked Seven retread. Sure, directed by David Fincher, but all those reliable names have let us down at one time or another. It was advertised exploitatively and then poof! Gone. So why did I see it now? Frankly, […]

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a true story about Elle power player Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffered a severe cerebral-vascular accident that resulted in a rare condition known even in French as “locked-in syndrome.” He is completely paralyzed save for one eyelid, but fully alert and conscious. His only means of communication […]

Dewey Cox is a man whose life started hard, but the music carried him through. Walk Hard, if you couldn’t tell by the preview, is a parody of music biopics. These films, especially of late, have had a certain strange formula (despite the disparity of their subjects) that was indeed ripe for gentle […]

This is a side note having little to do with this actual movie’s specific merits. After all the small-fry good work this year and big studio misfires, this film feels like a relic of another era, in a good way. Having a big December period movie with powerhouses Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts […]

After viewing this film, my companions and I entered into a lively discussion centered around how we felt about the protagonist. We all had strong views about him as a person, and not a lot of overlapping agreement. I report this because I did not realize at the time that we all had […]

Spanning 16 years, Talk To Me purports to be the tale of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene’s rise from obscurity, I say purports, because the always excellent Don Cheadle is vying for Best Actor, and his equally excellent costar Chiwetel Ejiofor is only billed as Supporting Actor, and I think the story is about the two […]