As the musical version of Les Miserables hits the big screen, Eric has a review of the 1998 non-musical movie of Les Miserables starring Liam Neeson, and the latest Resident Evil movie, both new on DVD and Blu-ray now.
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Clément presents the devious and seemingly amoral Tom Ripley (a star-making turn from Alain Delon) with a huge amount of ambiguity concerning his motives. Minghella’s movie (with Matt Damon in the title role) went more into the detail and backstory of Highsmith’s book, while Clément makes Ripley seem more quiet, distant, and dangerous.
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Gus Van Sant’s ‘Promised Land’ takes on the environmental issue of fracking in the Midwest, but treats the characters as set dressing.
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‘The Impossible,’ based on a true story, offers gruesome and suffocating visuals, but often the film feels oddly sterile given its content.
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Because ‘Not Fade Away’ is more about intertwining themes than it is about obvious plot and conflict, it has energy—but it’s a melancholic energy. It revels in the mystery, appreciation, and ultimately creation of art—from a guy who was empowered and inspired by rock n’ roll himself.
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Two action movies from this summer have found their way to Blu-ray and DVD, and their budgets are in reverse proportion to their quality. Here’s my Blu-ray and DVD reviews.
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‘This is 40’ is a messy and consistently funny movie filled with authentic anxieties about middle-aged life. It’s easy to forgive movies that ramble as much as this film does when they keep supplying laughs.
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As an entertaining revenge flick with roots in exploitation films and spaghetti westerns, Django Unchained succeeds. But it never rises above its genre to become a real, affecting emotional experience.
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Hooper actively undermines what is powerful about the stage version of ‘Les Misérables,’ and doesn’t use his camera’s frame effectively to add anything of value.
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Judd Apatow’s latest film about age, parenting and everything in between features some bright spots, but is a flawed film overall.
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Tom Cruise’s ‘Jack Reacher’ is a well-plotted mystery thriller filled with tough-guy talk, a simmering romance, and exciting action. But along the way to becoming the fun, disposable piece of Hollywood trash that it is, it has a scene or two that may turn the stomachs of those still reeling from the tragic school shooting last week.
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Besides the similarities in playing with time and structure (see also The Prestige and Inception), in Following, Nolan is already zeroed in on his favorite cinematic theme: obsession.
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The 1980s smash-hit stage musical Les Misérables arrives on the big screen in a punishing movie adaptation from director Tom Hooper that may very well prove to be the “adult” equivalent of the Twilight series.
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The movie is shot from a five-year-old’s point of view, so everything has a magical, dream-like quality to it. You’ve seen tales of courage before, but never one told with such an original, focused eye on the person telling it. By the time ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ is over, you may be hypnotized by its strange beauty and individualism, even as you feel the tragic depth of Hushpuppy’s situation.
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‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ could have felt like a visit from an old friend, but sadly it doesn’t.
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