Members – Page 32 – New York Film Critics Circle

‘On the Road,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine January 15, 2013 January 15, 2013 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com It’s taken me a while to get around to it, but I wanted to offer a nod of approval for Walter Salles’ “On the Road,” which came out in limited release at the end of 2012. Dismissed by some critics for being too vague in its storytelling, Salles’ film …

‘Gangster Squad,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine January 8, 2013 January 8, 2013 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com You get the feeling that Ruben Fleischer would have been happy to make an homage to the gangster movies of the 1940s (filtered through both a 1970s and a 21st-century perspective) when he was making “Gangster Squad.” That’s not the same thing, unfortunately, as making a derivative and slight …

Why we should ban guns from films

Marshall Fine January 7, 2013 January 7, 2013 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com Here’s a radical proposal: Let’s ban guns from being shown in movies and television. But not for the reasons you think. I’m not suggesting this because real handguns and automatic weapons are a threat to humans everywhere, though that is true. Nor is it because the casual, often comedic …

Marshall Fine: My favorite films of 2012

Marshall Fine December 31, 2012 December 31, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com The annual 10-best list is a critical ritual, one I’ve been practicing for far too many years. Sure, I have opinions about what the best films of the past year are – and so does every other critic. If I think “Argo” should be on the list but not …

‘Quartet,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine December 28, 2012 December 28, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com “Quartet” marks Dustin Hoffman’s official debut as a film director, though he was originally slated to direct the 1978 cult hit, “Straight Time” (and, by some accounts, actually did). Hoffman is one of the seminal film figures of the 1960s and 1970s, part of a group (including Al Pacino …

‘Promised Land,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine December 27, 2012 December 27, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com I wanted to like “Promised Land” and certainly agree with its politics. So why did it feel like a preaching-to-the-converted letdown? Written by costars Matt Damon and John Krasinski, this Gus Van Sant film deals with a small Pennsylvania town hit hard by the recession. The area farmers are …

‘Les Miserables,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine December 26, 2012 December 26, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com Tom Hooper’s film of the musical “Les Miserables” is an exceptional movie of a mediocre musical, the kind of middlebrow melodrama that passes for profound on Broadway. Part of the sorry big-box-musical era that brought us “Cats,” “Miss Saigon” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Les Miserables” was a …

‘Django Unchained,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine December 24, 2012 December 24, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com At this point in his career, is there anything Quentin Tarantino can do to surprise us? Absolutely. I was floored by 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds” – not by the violence or the outrageousness of some of the action, but by Tarantino’s command of suspense, his ability to crank the tension …

‘The Impossible,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine December 21, 2012 December 21, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com You don’t have to be a parent to appreciate the horror, the challenge and the determination involved in the story of “The Impossible” – or to be plunged into the mindset of “What would I have done?” But if you are, you’ll have an extra appreciation for what the …

‘This Is 40,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

Marshall Fine December 21, 2012 December 21, 2012 Members / Recent News

HollywoodandFine.com Foul-mouthed without being particularly funny, involved without being compelling, Judd Apatow’s “This Is 40” wants to be deeper than it really is. Which is an Apatowian trademark. Apatow aspires to be a contemporary Frank Capra – albeit one with fart and blowjob jokes. But his movies are always about …