Uh Huh Her
Spike Jonze has always been brilliant, but lately he’s become something more. You can see it in the tenderness that pervades both his previous...
SEALs on the Ground
I’m trying to figure out whether Peter Berg is a formerly promising filmmaker who has turned into a hack, or if that early promise...
Top 10 Movies of ’13
Here’s how strong 2013’s movies were: Nebraska, Enough Said, The East, and The Wolf of Wall Street aren’t even cracking my honorable mention list,...
Jordan Rules
This I know about The Wolf of Wall Street: It’s not Martin Scorsese’s best movie, but it’s certainly his funniest.
It really is a shame...
Daydream Believer
A highly likable movie that comes up short of its aims, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty bears little resemblance to the James Thurber...
Making Mary
Saving Mr. Banks is a lie. I don’t mean in the film-school sense that all movies (even documentaries) are fictions constructed by an author....
Hustle and Russell
Some caper films are sleek humming machines, but American Hustle is by David O. Russell, which means that it lurches and veers and speeds...
Carte Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is generally regarded as one of the great actresses of our time, and yet her actual track record is curiously spotty. She...
Let’s Stryng Along
They make an interesting study in contrasts, the short-haired, clean shaven, jocular Geoff McGee and the long-haired, bearded, studious Derek Presley. Still, these Dallas...
Ice Castle
Last August we had The Snow Queen, a Russian film based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fable. Frozen is based on the same story, but...
