The Hoax (2006) ***
Richard Gere terrific as the dead-ended writer Clifford Irving, whose kamikaze mission is to gin up Howard Hughes’s autobiography. He does it, and almost—oh, it’s so close—gets away with it.
The Grifters (1990) **
Anjelica Huston is the spidery mom, Annette Bening the oh-so-sexy moll, and John Cusack the conflicted young con man caught in the middle. Stylish acting, but in the end a fairly unsavory experience.
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) ***
The incomparable Burt Lancaster is quietly superb, but John Frankenheimer’s a great action director who doesn’t get to do much here. Some nice moments, but tick tock, tick tock.
Bulworth (1998) ***
Risky business here: Warren Beatty’s despairing politician freaks out, starts rapping. Beatty quite a vision in hip-hop gear, though often hard to know whether to laugh or cringe. Sometimes a great satire.
House of Sand and Fog (2003) ****
Ben Kingsley the proud Iranian exile, Jennifer Connelly the recovering alcoholic who, by error, loses her house to the county. He buys it for his family. She wants it back. Neither will yield. Superb tragedy.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Kaze's Movie Notes: Archive 13
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) *****
Maybe filmdom’s most ambitious meditation on man in the universe. Demanding on your time and patience, it repays you with mystery and transcendence. After 40 years, still the rarest of movies.
Tears of the Sun (2003) ****
Bruce Willis at his grim best, leading his Navy SEALs and a ragtag bunch of Nigerian refugees through the sopping jungle, with genocidal rebels in pursuit. War hokum, but it grabs you.
In Bruges (2008) ****
Tightrope walking between gangster doings and farce, here’s a kind of quirky Irish cousin to “Pulp Fiction.” This is a far better movie. Ralph Fiennes’s accent uncannily like the GEICO gecko’s.
Microcosmos (1996) ****
A reminder that the world is full of wonders. We’re allowed to see and hear in startling close-up the lives of everyday creatures in woods and meadows. Food for jaded eyes and ears.
Fort Apache (1948) *****
A cavalry picture, one of Ford’s great “print the legend” parables of the West, made in the decade following WWII when screen westerns reached their zenith. Fonda, Wayne, Monument Valley.
Maybe filmdom’s most ambitious meditation on man in the universe. Demanding on your time and patience, it repays you with mystery and transcendence. After 40 years, still the rarest of movies.
Tears of the Sun (2003) ****
Bruce Willis at his grim best, leading his Navy SEALs and a ragtag bunch of Nigerian refugees through the sopping jungle, with genocidal rebels in pursuit. War hokum, but it grabs you.
In Bruges (2008) ****
Tightrope walking between gangster doings and farce, here’s a kind of quirky Irish cousin to “Pulp Fiction.” This is a far better movie. Ralph Fiennes’s accent uncannily like the GEICO gecko’s.
Microcosmos (1996) ****
A reminder that the world is full of wonders. We’re allowed to see and hear in startling close-up the lives of everyday creatures in woods and meadows. Food for jaded eyes and ears.
Fort Apache (1948) *****
A cavalry picture, one of Ford’s great “print the legend” parables of the West, made in the decade following WWII when screen westerns reached their zenith. Fonda, Wayne, Monument Valley.
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