HollywoodandFine.com Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. But what if you want to imitate someone so badly that you’re willing to steal from them? Where does that fall on the sincerity meter? That’s just one of the issues raised in Sofia Coppola’s drily witty and up-to-the-minute …
HollywoodandFine.com What if they gave a Rapture and you weren’t invited? That was the idea behind Michael Tolkin’s 1991 film “The Rapture,” as well as Tom Perrotta’s 2009 novel, “The Leftovers.” What if you were a skeptic – and your very skepticism resulted in you missing out on the very …
HollywoodandFine.com It’s hard to imagine another documentary this year that will be as uplifting, entertaining and moving as Morgan Neville’s “20 Feet From Stardom.” A sensation at this year’s Sundance festival, “20 Feet” looks at a group of people who normally don’t feel the spotlight’s heat – the backup singer. …
HollywoodandFine.com A semi-jigsaw-puzzle of a story, Kieran Darcy-Smith’s “Wish You Were Here” bounces back and forth in time, while feeding the audience’s interest in an unsolved mystery. Even as it deals with a marriage hanging by a thread, it examines the nature of guilt and unveils new facets before finally …
HollywoodandFine.com The jokes practically write themselves for “The Internship,” or at least that would be the case if writers Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern were actually paying attention to this one-joke movie. Instead, this limp outing plays like an extended improv session, in which all of the best jokes wound …
HollywoodandFine.com “The Prey” is one of those high-energy suspense thrillers that the French seem to toss off effortlessly – then sit back helplessly as Americans muck up the remake. I dare you to watch this film and not spend the second half recasting it in your mind with American stars. …
HollywoodandFine.com “The Purge” is a high-concept blunt instrument of a thriller, a movie that offers a straightforward set-up and few subsequent surprises. It does exactly what you expect and doesn’t really go anywhere you don’t assume it will. The premise is devilishly simple: In the future, the government has eliminated …
HollywoodandFine.com I want to applaud Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing” for all the things it does right, and I will. But Whedon’s side project – between his various TV and Marvel-related entertainments – gets one thing unfortunately wrong: It’s never very funny. Much of that has to do with …
HollywoodandFine.com Geoffrey Fletcher’s filmmaking debut, “Violet & Daisy,” is the summer’s oddest, most original treat. Imagine a script by Quentin Tarantino, directed by Wes Anderson – and you have an idea of just how deliciously surprising this film can be. It opens Friday (6/7/13) in limited release. The opening scene …
HollywoodandFine.com Shown at Sundance under the title “Toy’s House,” Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ “The Kings of Summer” is a coming-of-age tale that touches a lot of bases and explores a variety of tones in ways that most films are too timid to do. Based on a witty, imaginative script by Chris Galletta, …
HollywoodandFine.com A movie that’s bound to set your paranoia sensors flashing, “The East” is a cerebral thriller in which it’s hard to tell who’s the hero and who’s the villain. That’s especially true for the film’s central character, a former FBI agent named Sarah, played by the film’s producer and …
HollywoodandFine.com “Fill the Void” is as interesting for the things it doesn’t do as for what it does. Written and directed by Rama Burshtein and set in the Hasidic community of Tel Aviv, it’s a story about family and a sense of duty, informed by a devout faith. The faith …
Must-See Movies Beyond the Blockbusters “Before Midnight,” the third and richest collaboration between Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater, finds the French and American couple Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) still talking, talking, talking – and making love. Having met on a train nearly two decades …
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 …