The week in movies: ‘The Raid 2,’ ‘Noah’ and more

HollywoodandFine.com I’m a little embarrassed at how much I enjoyed “The Raid 2,” Gareth Evans’ sequel to his blistering 2011 action film, “The Raid.” So let me be exceptionally clear: “The Raid 2” may be the most graphically violent movie in recent memory – and that’s taking into account the …

‘Winter’s Tale,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

HollywoodandFine.com Akiva Goldsman’s track record is a spotty one, chockablock with commercially successful films full of formulaic writing and manipulatively sentimentalized emotion. Or just plain hogwash: “Batman & Robin,” anyone? Sure, he won an Oscar for Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind,” as middlebrow a choice as you could get in …

‘Man of Steel,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

HollywoodandFine.com Zack Snyder widens his view as a director with “Man of Steel,” taking a proclivity for creating startling images in the service of storytelling and using it to enlarge and expand the action. As a result, “Man of Steel” works as a compelling big-screen blockbuster because Snyder doesn’t treat …

‘Broken City,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

HollywoodandFine.com Allen Hughes’ “Broken City” has the bones and perhaps even the DNA of a better, darker and more interesting film. Its tale of marital discord and political in-fighting, as well as corruption and malfeasance, could have been constructed as one of those painfully compelling tales of a good man …

‘Les Miserables,’ reviewed by Marshall Fine

HollywoodandFine.com Tom Hooper’s film of the musical “Les Miserables” is an exceptional movie of a mediocre musical, the kind of middlebrow melodrama that passes for profound on Broadway. Part of the sorry big-box-musical era that brought us “Cats,” “Miss Saigon” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Les Miserables” was a …

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