HollywoodandFine.com So many films today seem to carry the same references to earlier work, indicating the influences that shaped the filmmaker in his work. But references are one thing; using those references for fresh inspiration is something else, and that’s what David Lowery has done with “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.” …
HollywoodandFine.com There’s nothing that terrible about Joshua Michael Stern’s “jOBS,” a skimpy, often overly specific film biography about the late Apple inventor, Steve Jobs. Still, it would be interesting to see this film with another actor playing Jobs. While Ashton Kutcher looks the part (actually, his face is rounder than …
HollywoodandFine.com “Kick-Ass 2” is every bit as stupid as this photograph makes it look. I remember hating 2010’s “Kick-Ass” as being sadistic, unexciting and not funny enough. It had a ton of style, thanks to director Matthew Vaughn, but not a lot of wit or brains. When I went back …
HollywoodandFine.com There are moments in “The Butler” – excuse me, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” – that make you cringe a little because they’re so on the nose. And yet I walked away from Daniels’ film deeply moved. As obvious as this film can be in its messages – bigotry and …
HollywoodandFine.com Niels Arestrup may be the most commandingly passive-aggressive father figure in the current cinema. In films such as “A Prophet,” the upcoming “Our Children” and, this week, “You Will Be My Son,” the leonine Arestrup plays a series of patriarchs with distinctly ambivalent relationships with their sons (though he …
HollywoodandFine.com The fact that porn has become such a punchline in our culture – something that is joked about in mainstream humor as an indicator of all that is horny, male and, often, lower-class – is hard to believe, from the perspective of the social history captured in “Lovelace.” A …
HollywoodandFine.com Anyone who thought “District 9” might be some sort of newcomer fluke needs only watch the first few minutes of “Elysium” to see that Neill Blomkamp is the real thing: a visionary filmmaker with a headful of dystopia and the story-telling ability to give it some punch. Blomkamp used …
HollywoodandFine.com Comedy is subjective, so there are bound to be haters for “We’re the Millers.” But, speaking as someone who enjoys vulgar humor that is both mean and smart, I can tell you that I laughed a lot during this brisk, consistently funny movie. It was one of those films …
HollywoodandFine.com “In A World” announces the arrival of a new triple-threat talent: Lake Bell, already established as an actress. She wrote and directed (and produced) this new film, which was a delight at Sundance and arrives in the dog days of summer like a cool breeze. Bell plays Carol, who’s …
HollywoodandFine.com There’s been a lot of action at the movies this summer, very little of it memorable. So Baltasar Kormakur’s “2 Guns” comes as a welcome surprise: a film with the wit, tension and sheer headlong pace to grab and hold your attention for a brisk 106 minutes. Yes, that’s …
HollywoodandFine.com It’s the rare teen-ager who can see beyond tomorrow. While they may worry about the future, they tend to live in the moment because, among other things, they feel immortal and most have little evidence to the contrary. Certainly that’s the case with Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), the high-school …
HollywoodandFine.com Whatever else you may say about “The Wolverine,” the latest Marvel comic-book adventure to reach the big screen, say this: It takes guts – and, apparently, both a big movie star and a popular hero – to get Hollywood to spend a bundle on a tentpole movie the bulk …
HollywoodandFine.com Aubrey Plaza’s deadpan affect would seem to have limited comic potential. And yet, as she’s shown in the past (in “Safety Not Guaranteed”) and now with “The To Do List,” she’s really a minimalist who knows how to do a lot with a little. A sex comedy with heart, …
HollywoodandFine.com Approaching the age of 80, with more than 40 feature films under his belt, Woody Allen continues to astonish, finding new ways to surprise audiences with each year’s film. With “Blue Jasmine,” he shows once again that he is a master of texture and tone – of creating complex, …