Martin Scorsese has evidently waited his entire life to direct a saga of martyrdom and Judas-like betrayal on the scale of Silence, his stark, portentous adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel about Portuguese Catholic priests who get put through the wringer (along with their native followers) in 17th-century Japan. The movie …
HollywoodandFine.com Sean Penn is a global activist who puts his money – and, more important, his physical self – where others barely pay lip service. His advocacy on behalf of the voiceless is stirring, but it obviously is also time-consuming and costly. So when a paycheck role like “The Gunman” …
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 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 …
HollywoodandFine.com Paul Haggis’ “Third Person” may be the year’s most misunderstood film. It’s also one of the most intriguing. A jigsaw puzzle of characters and plots, it might remind some at first of “Crash,” Haggis’ Oscar-winning multiple-character drama. But “Third Person” has a different agenda. Initially, we see three different …
HollywoodandFine.com If you crossed a disaster film from the 1970s with a low-budget action-thriller from the last five years, you’d get something that looks like “Non-Stop.” It’s no wonder that Liam Neeson looked so chagrined to talk about it on “60 Minutes” this past Sunday. But as he noted, they’re …
HollywoodandFine.com I’ll admit that, during moments in “The Lego Movie,” my mouth was hanging open at the audacity and imagination of the images I was seeing. I also found myself laughing a lot more than I thought I would. Written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who did …
HollywoodandFine.com How much bad luck can one family have? Enough for a hit movie – “Taken” – and what I assume the makers hope is a hit sequel: “Taken 2.” “Taken” starred Liam Neeson as Brian Mills, a security expert and former special-ops guy whose daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) is …
HollywoodandFine.com As I watched the final few minutes of “Wrath of the Titans,” I thought, “What I wouldn’t give to be a 10-year-old boy right now.” That’s absolutely the audience that will enjoy this silly, overblown special-effects extravaganza. At 10, you can still buy into the reality of wild fantasy; …
HollywoodandFine.com I have a hard time getting scared by horror films that deal in the supernatural. But a horror film such as “The Grey” has an easier time sinking its teeth into me. I’m too pragmatic to worry about the paranormal, I guess – but trapped in the Arctic wilderness, …