By Armond White In light of Michael bay’s Pain & Gain, it’s time to take another look one of its influences: Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 Zabriskie Point finally passes the test of time. Antonioni’s aestheticized vision of ‘60s political and spiritual turmoil was originally scoffed at as disingenuous and “unrealistic”–accusing the …
HollywoodandFine.com This apparently is the week for multiple unnecessary sequels, with “The Hangover Part III” going up against “Fast & Furious 6” (twice as uncalled-for) for that all-important teen-age dollar. So I’ll give the same “meh” response to “H3” as I did to “Iron Man 3”: better than the second …
By Armond White You might laugh at The Hangover Part III but you won’t laugh as hard as Todd Phillips, the film’s pecuniary director and co-screenwriter, who laffs all the way to his offshore Cayman Island account. The Hangover Part III continues what’s advertised as “The Wolfpack Trilogy”–kinda reminiscent of …
By Armond White What’s derisive in the American title A Pig Across Paris (now playing at Film Forum) drives home the bitterness hidden in the original French title La Traversee de Paris (Crossing Paris). This 1956 release hasn’t been shown in the U.S. in more than 50 years probably because …
HollywoodandFine.com Anyone who’s been married for any length of time should be able to enjoy Richard Linklater’s “Before Midnight,” if squirming in your seat can be considered a form of enjoyment. The third in a trilogy that began with “Before Sunrise” (1995) and continued with “Before Sunset’ (2004), this film …
I thought it would be fun to watch Gordon Douglas’ Liberace vehicle “Sincerely Yours” (1955) — just out from the Warner Archive Collection — back-to-back with Steven Soderberg’s Liberace bio-pic “Beyond the Candelabra,” which bows Sunday night on HBO after its world premiere Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival. What …
How Fast & Furious 6 crushes Iron Man 3 By Armond White The cynicism that makes Iron Man 3 so lousy is defied by the good-time camaraderie of Fast & Furious 6. Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor (Vin Diesel and Paul Walker) are more likable than Robert Downey’s snarky Tony …
HollywoodandFine.com Here’s the nicest thing I can say about “Fast & Furious 6”: It’s not in 3D. That’s apparently the only restraint that the makers of this high-end piece of cinema junk-food indulged in. Otherwise, as exercises in preposterous mayhem go, “Fast & Furious 6” is, well, preposterous. And full …
While bromances flourish – doctors, racecar drivers and superheroes bond regularly — memorable movies about best girlfriends are a rare species. But in that environment, “Frances Ha,” the brilliant black-and-white comic collaboration between star-writer Greta Gerwig (“To Rome with Love”) and writer-director Noah Baumbach (“Greenberg”), is a game-changer. Best friends …
HollywoodandFine.com Other documentarians may be more famous than Oscar-winner Alex Gibney, but there’s no one working right now who afflicts the comfortable with more energy and pointedness than Gibney. “We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks” is Gibney’s second documentary in less than a year, after the upsetting and revealing …
HollywoodandFine.com I was heartened to read that, on its opening weekend, “The Great Gatsby” did solid business, despite some unjustly vicious reviews. I was even more uplifted when I read that, in placing a strong second to “Iron Man 3,” “Gatsby” only earned one-third of its box-office take from people …
By Armond White Frances Ha runs a very long 84 minutes. It offers an obnoxiously self-satisfied portrait of a young white New Yorker–played by Greta Gerwig–running out her parent’s stipend, roommating with other New York hipsters, sometimes skipping the pond to Paris, all the time pursuing her goal to be …
By Armond White Julianne Moore has unintentionally foundered her acting career in insufferable films like Savage Beauty, HBO’s Game Change, The Kids Are Alright, Crazy Stupid Love, Chloe, Blindness, Children of Men, I’m Not There, Freedomland, Hannibal, The Hours–why go further? It’s been a long time since Moore challenged Meryl …
HollywoodandFine.com I often note how difficult it is to create a comedy that’s not only smart and funny but also charming and surprising. But first-time director Craig Zisk, a TV veteran, has done that with “The English Teacher,” which opens in limited release today (5/17/13). Like a witty update on …
