Aging Al Pacino (Danny Collins)vs. Female Robot (Ex Machina)and the winner is…

You would think that an aging Al Pacino in Danny Collins (directed by Dan Fogelman) couldn’t hold a candle to a futuristic Ex Machina robot (directed by Alex Garland), but you would be wrong. Ex Machina makes Under the Skin look like an action flick. A more appropriate title might be “Pregnant Pause”. Conceptually it’s… Continue reading Aging Al Pacino (Danny Collins)vs. Female Robot (Ex Machina)and the winner is…

The world might be back in order: The D Train and Far From the Madding Crowd

Jack Black is back to dark quirky roles in “The D-Train”, where he plays a desperate man looking for friendship intimacy while rejecting the familial kind. The film’s uniqueness is due to the genuine nature of the character’s actions. We all screw up in real life, get caught up doing embarrassing things for meaningless connections,… Continue reading The world might be back in order: The D Train and Far From the Madding Crowd

Clouds of Sils Marie, ‘CirrEus’ clouds that is

I liked Clouds of Sils Marie and was glad that yet another trailer was deceiving. It’s not a shallow Black Swan- cut throat theater actress pic, but more like a dramatic theater like performance; a mountain made slowly with layers of sedimentary rock. In fact, when a dark screen title Part Two popped up, I… Continue reading Clouds of Sils Marie, ‘CirrEus’ clouds that is

Disgruntled and Disillusioned: Listen Up Philip

Upon consulting Alex Ross Perry, writer and director of “Listen Up Philip”, I immediately sighed, “oh that guy!”. He also wrote and directed “Color Wheel” which if you’ve never seen that film, rent it and buckle up, surely you’ll say, “Never saw that before!” Then again, if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, maybe you… Continue reading Disgruntled and Disillusioned: Listen Up Philip

While We’re Young; a six cheek pincher

Noah Baumbach’s writing and directorial oeuvre is impressive. If you’ve never seen Greenberg, The Squid in the Whale, or Frances Ha, get thee to a Netflix account pronto…or go to the theater and see his latest “While We’re Young” which is of a similar stature. Every main character was believable (Watts, Stiller, Seyfried, Driver) and… Continue reading While We’re Young; a six cheek pincher

Happy Christmas Justified

Looking out my window in Upstate New York this morning, my car window was covered with snow. I lost the opportunity, though contemplated it, of writing in the snow: Spring break ends? Hence, I was justified in watching Joe Swanberg’s “Happy Christmas” who I found out about via Marc Maron’s podcast. While I enjoyed hearing… Continue reading Happy Christmas Justified

Red Army: Slap Shot-esque Stokholm Syndrome

I knew I liked Gabe Polsky’s quirky documentary on Russian hockey player Viacheslav Fetisov for a reason. He’s got that Werner Herzog idiosyncratic eye and ear that captures the odd ball in us all. Red Army traces Viacheslav’s rise from Russian youth hockey to the Olympics and beyond. When he requests to play for the… Continue reading Red Army: Slap Shot-esque Stokholm Syndrome

Wild Tales, my subtitle: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

The Oscars and Time Magazine agreed, nominating Wild Tales for best foreign film and claiming it as one of 2014’s best movies respectively. I don’t disagree though I have a tough time with gratuitous man on man violence. I just can’t bear to watch or listen to the punching, hitting, etc. In Wild Tales, one… Continue reading Wild Tales, my subtitle: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

Leviathan, tis the season

I was thinking how depressing a movie Leviathan (direcetd by Andrey Zvyagintsev) is, not depressing in the, ‘Boy do I feel melancholia!”, but more of a super realist/pragmatist life reference. Yet, isn’t that what our pre-Easter/mid lent period is all about? Suffering and self-denial leading up to the…ta-da!- resurrection. But I digress. Leviathan was up… Continue reading Leviathan, tis the season