Monthly Archives: February 2014

The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) review

Directed by Paolo SorrentinoWritten by Sorrentino and Umberto ContarelloThis picture is very well-titled. The Great Beauty. It's an astonishingly opulent and fetching film. But have you ever marvelled at a piece of art, wondered at the craftsmanship on display, and yet find you are unmoved by it? I'd say that's how I felt by 90%…Read More

RoboCop (2014) review

Directed by José PadilhaWritten by Joshua Zetumer, based on the 1987 Robocop script by Edward Neumeier and Michael MinerThe second of three remakes planned for the unholy trinity of Paul Verhoeven future dystopia films (last year's underwhelming Total Recall, the forthcoming Starship Troopers), all of which didn't need new versions, but when did that ever…Read More

Frozen and The Lego Movie reviews

Frozen  Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee Written by Jennifer Lee, Story by Buck, Lee, and Shane Morris, adapting Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen Tom Whalen's super-cool poster The Lego Movie Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Written by Lord and Miller, Story by Lord, Miller, Kevin Hageman and Dan Hageman I…Read More

Labor Day review

Directed by Jason ReitmanWritten by Reitman based on the novel by Joyce MaynardWow, this is a tough one to get my head around. Why would Reitman, director of edgy, hip dramedies Young Adult, Up In The Air and Juno, tackle this kind of material? This is a total Hallmark/Lifetime TV movie, described in at least one…Read More

How do I watch Woody Allen now?

Yesterday I sat down with an old friend. We talked about movies, as we sometimes do, and since we both grew up watching Woody Allen, we talked about the reasons he's been in the news lately. She said, "I can forgive a lot, but this is one thing where I'd leave him on a desert…Read More

CTV Morning Live, February 7, 2014

Was invited back to Halifax's CTV breakfast show again today. Great to chat with Heidi Petracek, as always. This morning we discussed Labor Day, The Monuments Men and, with Valentine's Day coming up next week, a few upcoming romantic movies and a shortlist of classic date pictures. You can check it out here.Read More

The Monuments Men review

Directed by George Clooney Written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, adapting a book by Robert M. Edsel and Ben Witter I get that George Clooney has a love for some old-timey movies, the sort that move at a more leisurely pace and rely a great deal on the charm of the actors. He showed that…Read More

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit review

Directed by Kenneth BranaghWritten by Adam Cozad and David Koepp, based on characters created by Tom ClancyIt's a very rotten spy thriller that I'll pan. I just love the genre. I enjoy the twisty plots, the suspense and the international locations. But I can't say too much about Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit impressed me.This is…Read More