HollywoodandFine.com There are a lot of ways Lorraine Levy could have gone with the premise of “The Other Son,” opening in limited release Friday. Thankfully, she took the least-expected one. A switched-at-birth tale, “The Other Son” raises the stakes on what is already an emotionally charged situation. Her story – …
HollywoodandFine.com David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” is a fascinating puzzle of a novel, with stories broken in half, then reassembled in a way that gives each added resonance and power. It seems like an unfilmable book because of its construction (more on that in a moment). But Mitchell has met his …
Alex Cross and Detropia zombify a city By Armond White Detroit’s old magnificent Michigan Theater was one of the country’s finest cinema edifices. A palace of dreams, its vaulted ceiling rose up nine stories–as high as one’s imagination could rise. It had a grand staircase that one ascended on the …
HollywoodandFine.com Sex is a magnetic force, one that attracts and repels with equal force. Those impulses can be electrifying or awkward, drawing us desperately while tripping us up regularly. To make it even more difficult, this primal bit of attraction comes freighted with teachings about morality, religion and hygiene. Now …
HollywoodandFine.com Jon Kasdan’s “The First Time” captures one of those moments in life when you only hope you have the presence of mind to absorb every detail so that you can savor it later. It’s that moment when you were in exactly the right place at the right time to …
By Armond White At this point in Ben Affleck’s directing career, I’d rather have him back simply as an actor (provided he’s well directed). Affleck the auteur chooses worst material than Affleck the actor. And he lacks the skill and seriousness to make the stories believable. Argo, Affleck’s newest job, …
HollywoodandFine.com I’ll admit I’m a sucker for Martin McDonagh’s work. I’m a fan of his plays and loved his first feature, “In Bruges.” And I’m just as excited about his new film, “Seven Psychopaths,” perhaps the movie that forces you to laugh at more inappropriate moments than any film in …
HollywoodandFine.com The best films about recovery from addiction are not about reaching rock bottom and making that choice to stop. Rather, like “Smashed,” they’re about the very real and difficult task of going on, in an emotionally unshielded and intensely vulnerable way. Addiction, after all, isn’t about loving the substance …
HollywoodandFine.com It’s a little early to be proclaiming Ben Affleck’s “Argo” the best movie of the year – but one of the best? No question. Among the films I saw at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, it was the most exciting and engrossing. And I can’t think of anything I’ve …
HollywoodandFine.com Quiet but compelling, emotionally buttoned-up and naked at the same time, Ava DuVernay’s “Middle of Nowhere,” opening in limited release Friday (10/12/12), is a film about holding still while trying to move forward. It’s not an easy trick; indeed, it’s impossible. Which is what the film’s central character, Ruby …
