Matinee with Snacks
As always, Pixar preceded their feature with a short, called Presto. The rabbit who stars is an atypical sort of character design for Pixar, which made me nervous initially. Never fear! Presto plays with the laws of cartoon physics in another lovely, wordless short that is reminiscent of the madcap […]

George Clooney has worked with an interesting assembly of directors, and spent years on episodic television. What I just figured out about Clooney the director is that he is a crafter of moments more than a story teller. He’s clearly watched and learned from Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), the Coen brothers, and Steven […]

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 […]

There has been plenty of critical pants-wetting about Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, and I am an Anderson admirer to be sure – but beyond an acting nomination for Daniel Day Lewis, I just can’t get on that train. We are presented with some fascinating information on the trials and tribulations of a prospector […]

This film is an interesting one - a small ensemble drama that ratchets tension up bit by bit. It could have been a stage place except for the vital necessity of a camera. Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman are brothers embroiled separately in various unseemly habits when they decide to commit a […]

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, […]

Looking a bit like a rangy Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson plays Nikolai, a tough Russian mobster whose dealings collide with Anna, a British OB/GYN. The collision comes in the form of a young Russian girl’s tragedy, but their paths do not immediately cross. He is entangled in the vor v zakone Russian Mafia and […]

Margot at the Wedding is, superficially, a story about Margot (Nicole Kidman) who is attending the wedding of her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to a man Margot does not think is good enough (Jack Black). The sisters have been estranged, and the movie leads me to believe that it is because Margot herself […]