HollywoodandFine.com Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu is that rare film artist, passionately dedicated to challenging the audience at the same time he pulls them in to his sometimes circular, sometimes fragmented stories. The worlds he creates – in films like “Babel,” “21 Grams” and now “Birdman, or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance” …
HollywoodandFine.com This seems to be the season for movies in the 140-150 minute range, length apparently meant to convey importance. David Ayer’s “Fury” is one of the few that warrants its length (or most of it). Brutal, punishing and exciting – in that order – “Fury” gives you an approximation …
HollywoodandFine.com “The Judge” is, in its way, the kind of old-fashioned potboiler – a courtroom drama – that the studios made regularly when the studios actually thought there was an audience for films about adult concerns. It’s directed by David Dobkin, heretofore a director primarily of comedy (“Wedding Crashers,” “Fred …
HollywoodandFine.com Bill Murray has had the most piquant of film careers, launching himself from “Saturday Night Live” into goofy comedies that eventually gave way to something deeper and more satisfying, appearing in everything from “Zombieland” (as a version of himself) to the films of Wes Anderson to wildly varied recent …
HollywoodandFine.com “Whiplash,” a terrific film by Damien Chazelle, exemplifies all that is wrong with the way movies are released these days. This smart, razor-edged film has been out there, tantalizing critics and viewers, ever since it caused a sensation with its debut at Sundance in January. But it took until …
HollywoodandFine.com It’s the rare journalism movie that gets it right when it comes to depicting the day-to-day on a daily newspaper. And, given the terminal condition of American print, journalism movies themselves are going to become an endangered species – sort of like newspapers. So it’s nice to see a …
HollywoodandFine.com Based on a novel by Chad Kultgen, Jason Reitman’s “Men, Women & Children” is a multi-character film that wants to deliver a message about how our burgeoning electronic connectivity – through phones and computers – has actually distanced us from each other. That’s not a new message; indeed, Henry-Alex …
HollywoodandFine.com There hasn’t been a twisty, best-selling legal thriller whose film version was as anticipated as “Gone Girl” since, I would say, “Presumed Innocent.” (And don’t say “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” because, by the time most Americans were aware of the novel, the entire trilogy had been filmed – …
HollywoodandFine.com It would be easy to dismiss “The Good Lie” as manipulative, a movie aimed at the tear ducts (and we all know you can’t trust a movie about emotions). But while Philippe Falardeau’s film is not ground-breaking or earth-shaking, it’s still a touching, sometimes powerful tale of the strength …
HollywoodandFine.com Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, “The Two Faces of January” is a movie that sheds layers like an onion, gradually revealing the dark heart at its core. Indeed, writer-director Hossein Amini keeps the viewer guessing until nearly the end of the film as to which of these …
HollywoodandFine.com There is always an audience for actors in late middle-age who know how to kick serious ass. Charles Bronson was 53 when he made “Death Wish,” Liam Neeson was 54 when he did “Taken” and Clint Eastwood was 73 when he did “Gran Torino.” Action has always been one …
HollywoodandFine.com “Pride” is the kind of movie that is best seen without knowing its storyline going in. Because it delivers something quite different than you expect, based on the kind of movie it seems to be. Even if you do know the plot (which deals with the coal-miners strike that …
HollywoodandFine.com I went into “This Is Where I Leave You” with trepidation, mostly having to do with its director, Shawn Levy. The man behind such standard-lowering hits as “Cheaper By the Dozen” and the “Night at the Museum” movies, Levy is the filmmaker version of that old saying: To a …
HollywoodandFine.com They used to make films like “A Walk Among the Tombstones” on a regular basis: mysteries built around flawed heroes, in which character was as important as plot, and action was the catharsis, not the reason for the story itself. Scott Frank, who directs and adapted the film from …