Tag Archives: 2014 films

Manipulative, melodramatic, simultaneously marvelous; a film that delivers warm, fuzzy, chuckling, satisfying fun; Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Jaeden Lieberher, Naomi Watts give performances worthy of writer/director Ted Melfi’s semi-autobiographical story. “Vince” (Murray) a broke, curmudgeonly boozer is hired by his new neighbor “Maggie” (McCarthy) to babysit (for 11 dollars an hour) her twelve-year-old son “Oliver” (enchanting characterization by Lieberher); Vince …

From its erotic, titillating commencement throughout its seesaw scenario the viewer voyeuristically vacillates between the past and present; the blue of the hotel room to a similar hue in the courtroom; lovers reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock genre, fatally attracted to each other, describing their relationship in “Rashomon” style. Succinctly acted and directed by Mathieu Amalric (“The Diving Bell and …

Ignorance would have been blissfully indulgent if only I had not willingly subjected myself to this quixotic, sophistic expose on the cons of action films and their heroes; the bane of vindictive critics; ageing actors on a downward spiral into moral turpitude, and their drug-addicted progeny. “Unexpected’ trouble bamboozled the viewer in the initial scene: “Riggan Thompson” aka “Birdman” , …

Director/choreographer Farah Khan (“Om Shanti Om”) serves her revenge Masala style, hot and spicy; “Happy New Year” is a Bollywood romp reminiscent of “Ocean’s Eleven”, “Italian Job” and a plagiarized version of Hollywood’s 1987 “Happy New Year”, starring Peter Falk and Charles Durning; Shah Rukh Khan is at his “abs”olute best as “Charlie”, seeking revenge for the false imprisonment of …

Rarely does a film come along that is in perfect alignment: flawlessly acted, magnificently  written/ directed, rhythmically stunning, an electrifying story that clings to the conscience long after experiencing; “Whiplash” is an experience not to be missed. Miles Teller sinks his sensational skills into the role of “Andrew Neyman”; a portrait of a young man’s obscene obsession, a maniacal drive …

For 50 years (the oldest competitive film festival in the United States) one man has reigned, commanded with prescience, inimitable courage and foresight at the helm; channeling its vision universally, fifty-two countries displayed their features in this year’s festival; fearlessly, a parameter-destroyer, a man whose indefatigable initiative has never waned, gifting viewers a perpetual avalanche of entertainment. Michael Kutza is …

Director Joanna Rudnick’s remarkable iconoclastic commentary on traditional, expected norms of beauty: thin, waif-like, gauntly-chiseled countenances, leggy models who grace the covers of fashion magazines are replaced, shattered by the inimitable photographer Rick Guidotti who sees beyond the facade and unearths, brings forth the gorgeousness of those with physical aberrations; “disfigured” by Albinism, hypo –pigmentation, Sturge-Weber syndrome and chromosome 18 …

Bollywood’s anemic and hardly recognizable imitation of Hollywood’s  2010 “Knight and Day” starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz;  India’s eleven-fingered, handsome,  heartthrob Hrithik Roshan (with an abdomen so defined it defies pulsation; questioning the veracity of such tautened ripples, resembling robotic, digital action toys), is “Jai” the daredevil protagonist, capable of phenomenal wizardry; stealing the Koh-i-noor Diamond from the Tower …

Based on the play by Israel Horovitz (also his directorial debut) is uneven in execution but stunningly acted by Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas. Penniless, “Mathias (Jim) Gold” (Kline) arrives in Paris to collect his inheritance from his deceased father; an apartment inhabited by ninety-two-year-old “Madame Girard” (Smith); discovering the incomprehensible French law of “viager” which allows …

The only thing “strange” about this film is the title; profoundly realistic, poignantly, plaintively acted by John Lithgow and Alfred Molina; two men, after decades together “tie the knot”; instead of “happily ever after” sink precipitously into dependency, not to each other but family and friends. “Ben” (Lithgow) a painter of little distinction has relied on “George’s” (Molina) paycheck and …