Weird little movie about New York losers trying to survive as aging improv comedian troupe which at times comes off as some kind of cult for damaged thirtysomethings who have yet to deal with childhood issues. The depiction of SNL (as "WEEKEND LIVE") was interesting especially the Lorne Michaels character, all-powerful, ice-cold, super-ego. So very Hollywood. The move is depressing as hell.
SCORE: 51.
Had high hopes for this but found it slightly less good than the reviews led me to believe (I'm lookin' at you, Variety.) Maybe because I've read so much about this case, there wasn't much left to be surprised at. I suspect I will like it more after a second viewing.
SCORE: 70.
A simple little film of U.S. Border Patrol agents caught in a snare that's beyond all of them. Better than I expected.
SCORE: 76.
German 1950s drama of a state prosecutor on the hunt for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and the German government officials trying to prevent him from finding his prey.
SCORE: 75.
Lots of footage I'd never seen before of Leonard Nimoy made this documentary worthwhile.
SCORE: 71.
Fairly good movie where the main thing that doesn't ring true is how the NTSB is presented: imagine how Fox News types would see the NTSB: a bunch of bumbling, sneering bureaucrats on the warpath to take down a genuine American hero. You can just imagine grouchy old Clint sitting in the director's chair loving every minute of the scenes with those useless bureaucrats wasting Sully's time.
SCORE: 84.
I avoid these silly horror movies like the plague but it had good buzz and I went. It was actually pretty good. Like many American films since 9/11, the protagonists are not nice people, they're criminals. Long gone are the days where there are "good guys" -- now it's just varying degrees of bad guys doing variously bad things. Art reflecting life, I guess.
SCORE: 66.
The theatre I saw this in (two people in entire auditorium) did the right thing. They showed this movie LOUD. The only other movie I can recall where the projectionist had cranked up the volume during a screening was at a film festival screening of TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE and that loud painful music was incredibly effective. The music in CHILDHOOD is overwhelming: literally, a big chunk of the movie is really the musical performance, with the visuals just there for the ride. Not that I minded a bit. Wow what a movie. It isn't perfect, it has flaws. As many a critic has been delighted to point out, no doubt enjoying chiding the young whippersnanpper first-time director for having the gall to make such a bold film. Bold, indeed. And the timing could not be better, given Trump. See it. HEAR it.
SCORE: 91.
I really wanted to like this, after hearing an interview with the women filmmakers. Here is a movie written and directed by women, about women in Wall Street. But unfortunately the movie has too much mediocrity to recommend it. The soundtrack is atrocious: sounds like a 70s 8-bit video game at times. Direction is iffy. Acting is also just iffy. The whole thing feels like a made-for-TV movie right out of the LIFETIME channel. Seriously. Count me very very disappointed.
SCORE: 27.
Studio must've been so impressed with the remake of TRUE GRIT they cast Jeff Bridges to reprise his Rooster Cogburn schtick in the role of Texas Marshall in this crime movie HELL OR HIGH WATER, which could have been called No Country for Young Men. An effective drama set in the recession-hit, dead-economy West Texas. Just a delightful place, by the look of it.
SCORE: 87.
Anything by Werner Herzog is a must-read, must-listen, or must-see: books, articles, interviews, films. If he came out with a multi-volume boxed set of CDs wherein he simply reads the Yellow Pages into a microphone, I would pay top dollar.
LO AND BEHOLD is a new documentary ostensibly about the Internet but not really. It's about current technology and current tech trends. There's an opening segment on the original IMP device that was used in 1969 in the first test of the ARPANET. But from there it departs to be essentially a hodgepodge of various clips and things that Werner probably had stored away in a drawer, awaiting the day when there was enough material that it could comprise a feature-length film. It has that kind of random nature to it: ten chapters each about ten minutes long. Herzog fans simply have to see it, of course. Non-techies may wander in and wonder what's going on, and wander out with the usual wonder of tech. (A wonder I think Herzog, a non-techie, shares.) Techies may roll their eyes. I caught myself doing that a few times.
SCORE: 50.
Surprisingly good. Viggo is superb. The movie is reminiscent of THE MOSQUITO COAST, where Harrison Ford had Viggo's role, and THE DESCENDANTS, the set-in-Hawaii family drama with similar plot points and George Clooney in Viggo's role. But in many ways this is a better film than the still quite worthy MOSQUITO. Some really great points, great scenes, lots of wit and humor, lots of drama. Members of the audience I saw it with were in tears during some scenes. This is one of the best films of the summer.
SCORE: 85.
Found it quite interesting. The scene of the long debate between the dean of students and the main character is a keeper.
SCORE: 83.
It's basically a Yo Yo Ma documentary. Nothing wrong with that. But the music is not that great: it's basically a bunch of international musicians from different cultures who band together as The Silk Road Ensemble and travel the world, jamming world music. The Iranian musician's story is the most interesting. I suspect the music from each individual musician is more interesting than the final mashup of output from The Silk Road Ensemble.
SCORE: 50.
Not as grimly dreary as that other recent World War II-era Polish nun drama, but this is still pretty sad. A well-made film however. Religion makes people do all kinds of dumb things.
SCORE: 70.