Reviews Archive for June, 2009
12 Rounds
Wrestler John Cena jumps off the ropes to take a shot at action hero stardom as a New Orleans cop in12 Rounds, a Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment release directed by the depreciated action maven, Renny Harlin. Aidan Gillen portrays an Irish terrorist who kidnaps the hero’s wife and makes him do all sorts of crazy things…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: My Dinner with Andre, Two Lovers, Do the Right Thing and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Two Lovers (Three-and-a-Half Stars) U. S.; James Gray, 2009 Joaquin Phoenix, in various weird ways, has suggested that James Gray‘s Brooklyn romance Two Lovers may be
Read the full article »Last Year at Marienbad
What excited folks in 1961 about Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad was its overpowering formalism and mastery of style. Each shot seems so meticulously composed, down to the mannerism of every actor on the screen, that it leaves the impression that Resnais had absolute, total control over every pixel on the screen. The lack…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Woodstock, Last Year at Marianbad, Waltz with Bashir and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: CLASSICS Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music — The Director’s Cut (Four Stars) U.S.; Michael Wadleigh, 1970-1994 (Warner) Both a great rock concert movie, and a superb documentary on youth culture in the Vietnam War Years, Michael Wadleigh’s Woodstock
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Seventh Seal, At the Death House Door, Gary Cooper and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: CLASSICS The Seventh Seal (Two discs) (Four Stars) Sweden; Ingmar Bergman, 1957 (Criterion) Antonius Block, a dazzlingly blonde and handsome, idealistic, death-haunted knight
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Gran Torino, Revolution Revisited, The Rain People, and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Gran Torino (Four Stars) U.S.; Clint Eastwood, 2008 (Warner) Clint Eastwood plays a Dirty Harry guy grown old in his latest movie Gran Torino.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Revolutionary Road, Tender Mercies, Man Hunt, and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Revolutionary Road (Three-and-a-Half Stars) U. S.; Sam Mendes, 2008 (Paramount) Revolutionary Road is one of these novels I‘ve always meant to crack — like Remembrance of Things Past, or
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