Columns By Mike WilmingtonWilmington@moviecitynews.com
Wilmington on Movies: The Princess of Montpensier
The Princess of Montpensier (Four Stars) France: Bertrand Tavernier, 2010 The Princess of Montpensier is a splendid French historical drama, a movie in the tradition of Jean Renoir, of Luchino Visconti, of Jean-Paul Rappeneau — and of course, in the best tradition of the filmmaker who made it, the usually first-rate, sometimes magnificent Bertrand Tavernier (Coup…
Read the full article »At the TCM Classic Film Festival: From An American in Paris to Fantasia
The second edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood…. It began and it ended in that most magical of all super-Hollywood movie palaces, Grauman‘s Chinese Theatre — with two great examples of the kind of things Hollywood does best: A classic Gene Kelly Hollywood Musical and a classic Walt Disney feature length cartoon: An…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Dilemma, 12 Angry Men, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Green Hornet
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW The Dilemma (Three Stars) U.S.: Ron Howard, 2011 (Universal) Vince Vaughn and Kevin James make a nice couple in The Dilemma, a buddy-comedy-drama (or maybe a drama-buddy-comedy) in which they play a couple of Chicago pals-since-college and business partners. Vaughn is fast-talking huckster Ronny Valentine and James is slower-talking design…
Read the full article »Interview: Jodie Foster’s Tango With Depression In The Beaver
Jodie Foster’s directed a third feature. The one with Mel Gibson and the beaver hand-puppet? The Beaver is a rich fable about depression and fear and hope, piercing, personal, bruised. (I think it liked it more than a few opening week critics.) While Gibson’s two roles are his best (and most intense) in memory, other…
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: The Green Hornet, Mao’s Last Dancer, A Somewhat Gentle Man, Julian Assange, Brian Eno, Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies …
The Green Hornet: Blu-ray 3D If ever a marriage were made in comic-book heaven, it was the one that joined French fantasist Michael Gondry and the venerable “Green Hornet” franchise. The ceremony originally was arranged for 1997, after Gondry had completed a series of music videos for Bjork, but before he and Charlie Kaufman collaborated…
Read the full article »The Weekend Report — May 1
With the summer tentpoles around the corner, this weekend’s frame played out pretty much as anticipated. Fast Five retained its lead and ended up well ahead of the pack at an estimated $83 million. Newcomer kiddie flick Hoodwinked Too! found it hard to compete with Rio, which held fast to the place position, while Tyler Perry’s latest Madea film clung to third by a nose.
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