Movies

‘November Man’ Becomes Pierce Brosnan Show

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A fast paced spy thriller with many twists and turns. “November Man” may be a paint-by-numbers action movie, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. Pierce Brosnan stars as retired CIA operative Peter Devereaux, lured out of retirement for a highly personal mission; he soon finds himself in the middle of an increasingly messy situation where he can trust no one and must protect the only witness who can bring down a would-be Russian president with far more skeletons in his closet than even his real-life contemporary Vladimir Putin. If all this sounds like a lot, it is. However, the plot is easy enough to follow, and it moves at a very fast pace.

Movies

Not a Sin to Skip ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’

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The trouble with being groundbreaking, to the extent that the 2005 “Sin City” was, is that it can’t be repeated. Back then, no one had ever seen ‘animated noir,’ with its fierce black & white bowery and computer- assisted color dabs bringing the extreme world of the graphic novel to the screen. Nearly a decade later, however, the idea isn’t as striking. This is not to say that “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” is bad….In fact it’s pretty good if this maturing sub-genre, with its cartoonish ultra-violence is your cup of tea, or it doesn’t bother you. The movie itself is comprised of four interleaved stories, two from the printed series by Frank Miller, who is credited as a co-director this time, and two written expressly for this project.

Movies

Woody Allen Low on New Ideas in Magic in the Moonlight

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Woody Allen’s latest offering, “Magic in the Moonlight,” is his 44th film and frankly, it seems that the master may be running out of ideas. Those familiar with Allen’s earlier work, including his 1986 classic “Hannah and her Sisters,” will pick up on familiar themes such as faith vs. skepticism and that old Allen stand-by: unexpected May-December romances. Unlike Hannah, however, Allen doesn’t actually appear in this movie, but the protagonist, 1920s magician Stanley Crawford, is clearly a stand-in for him. Despite the fact that Crawford makes his living-and a very good one at that-tricking audiences with complex illusions under the guise of a Chinese master he is skeptical about all things related to religion or the supernatural: he knows better than most that seeing isn’t always believing.

Movies

‘Boyhood’ Coming-of-Age Story Like No Other

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If you keep up with cinema at all, you’ve probably heard about Director Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood,” a twelve-year project shot in annual increments documenting the life of a boy named Mason (Eller Coltrane in real life) from age six to 18. Part drama, part comedy, part cinema verite, it is a coming-of-age story like no other. It could almost have been called “Girlhood” or “Motherhood,” as Linklater’s daughter Lorilei gives a wonderful rendering of Mason’s older sister Samantha, and Patricia Arquette portrays Mason’s mom from desperate single parent all the way to a secure, but still somehow desperate new empty nester. Ethan Hawke is effective as the kids’ dad doing his best to stay in their lives, and avoiding the trivialization similar characters often suffer. “Boyhood” also avoids dramatic excess, telling its story and shaping its characters (which really IS the story) with everyday encounters that are filed under joy, pain, loss….or sometimes just confusion.

Movies

‘A Most Wanted Man’ Shows Why the ‘War on Terror’ Won’t End

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The film version of John LeCarre’s “A Most Wanted Man” may have turned out OK with any of a number of leading men….Set
amidst the post-modern architecture of Hamburg, it has all the trappings of smart, elegant European intrigue films we’ve seen
before. But Hoffman shapes his role as German intelligence officer Gunter Bachman as few others could. In the role, Bachman is dealing with a conflicted, 20-something half-Russian, half Chechen refugee who has attracted the attention of the intelligence community. Issa Karpov, the refugee, is the result of a rape of a 15-year old Chechen girl by a Russian officer years earlier, now is in possession of documents from his deceased, but apparently well-off, father bequeathing him a large sum. Issa wants no part of the money, and seeks out an attorney to help him find a life away from violent conflict zones, and to donate the money to Chechen charities.

Movies

Pratt a Reason to See ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

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This week: taking a trip to a galaxy full of fun times and surprisingly warm moments. It seems that nearly every comic ever put out by Marvel has made its way to the big screen or is heading that way in the not-so-distant future. The lesser-known “Guardians of the Galaxy” is no exception to that trend and follows the adventures of Peter Quill aka “Starlord” who along with a band of random misfits sets out the save the universe from an evil villain bent on destroying it. While the plot certainly isn’t that original–and more than a few have pointed out that it bares more than a passing similarity to another well-known summer science fiction movie from nearly 40 years ago called “Star Wars”–the movie is surprisingly funny with unexpected touches of humor and wit. One of the most notable is the character of “Rocket,” a genetically modified raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper who nearly steals the show with his one-liners.

Movies

The Purge: Anarchy

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You’ll want to purge, too, after watching this movie. Someone who has never watched the first “Purge” will have no problems grasping the plot of the sequel. Set in the near future, the US government has allotted one night out of every year for 12 hours of anarchy. During that time, citizens are allowed, with a few exceptions, to kill whomever they desire. This is justified on the basis that the purge allows citizens to get out their pent-up aggressions which in turn leads to a lower overall crime rate.

Movies

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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A new dawn for a venerable franchise…. We can thank the 60’s for lots of things…..One would be the rise of analogous science fiction, a part of which was the 1963 French novel by Pierre Boulle, which became the 1968 classic “Planet of the Apes.” The latest prequel, and last before a 2016 remake of the original, is “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” where a remnant of human society is hanging on in San Francisco, with the apes’ encampment nearby in the Muir woods. The humans’ desire to access a hydro-electric facility in ape territory brings the two groups into contact, which quickly becomes conflict. Amongst the apes, the wise and restrained Caesar, played by Andy Serkis, has to deal with the militant and distrustful Koba, and on the
human side, a similar dynamic exists between the near-genocidal Dreyfus –Gary Oldham— and the level-headed engineer Malcolm,
who leads the project to repair the dam. If there’s anyone out there wondering how a random criminal act in a real-world middle eastern country today can degenerate into a full-scale war in a few weeks, this is the movie that, by analogy, lays it out.