January 19, 2013

Silver Linings Playbook*

    Silver Linings Playbook Release Date: December 25, 2012 Runtime: 122 minutes Rating: R Studio: The Weinstein Company Director: David O’Russell Cast: Bradley Cooper; Jennifer Lawrence; Robert DeNiro; Chris Tucker; Jacki Weaver     This movie is faaaaantastic!  A romantic movie for grown-ups, teeming with brave, brilliant performances from […]
January 21, 2013

Hitchcock*

    Hitchcock Release Date: December 14, 2012 Runtime: 98 minutes Rating: PG-13 Studio: Fox Searchlight Director: Sacha Gervasi Cast: Anthony Hopkins; Helen Mirren; Danny Huston; Scarlett Johansson; Jessica Biel     A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic “Psycho,” set against the backdrop of Hitch’s relationship […]
January 31, 2013

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula Release Date: November 13, 1992 Runtime: 128 minutes Rating: R Studio: Columbia Pictures/American Zoetrope Director: Francis Ford Coppola Cast: Gary Oldman; Winona Ryder; Anthony Hopkins; Sadie Frost; Richard E. Grant; Tom Waits; Cary Elwes     This is a faaaaaaantastic movie! Francis Ford Coppola’s opulent […]
February 11, 2013

Zero Dark Thirty*

    Zero Dark Thirty Release Date: January 11, 2013 Runtime: 157 minutes Rating: R Studio: Columbia Pictures (Sony) Director: Kathryn Bigelow Cast: Jessica Chastain; Jason Clarke; Kyle Chandler; Jennifer Ehle; Chris Pratt     [POSSIBLE SPOILERS, I guess…] Goooooooood movie!! The search for Osama Bin Laden took a really […]
February 15, 2013

Roman Holiday

    Roman Holiday Release Date: September 2, 1953 Runtime: 118 minutes Rating: N/A Studio: Paramount Pictures Director: William Wyler Cast: Gregory Peck; Audrey Hepburn; Eddie Albert     In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to go romantic. I didn’t want a weepie, nor did I want some saccharine […]
February 18, 2013

Meditations on Movies: James Cameron and ‘Titanic’

    Meditations on Movies: James Cameron and “Titanic” Release Date: December 19, 1997 Runtime: 194 minutes Rating: PG-13 Studio: Twentieth Century Fox / Paramount Pictures Director: James Cameron Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio; Kate Winslet; Billy Zane; Kathy Bates; Frances Fisher; Victor Garber; Gloria Stuart     In the spirit of […]
March 8, 2013

The Master*: A Reel Podcast

    The Master Release Date: September 21, 2012 Runtime: 144 minutes Rating: R Studio: The Weinstein Company Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Joaquin Phoenix; Amy Adams     *2013 Academy Award Nominations Best Actor…..Joaquin Phoenix Best Supporting Actor…..Philip Seymour Hoffman Best Supporting Actress…..Amy Adams
April 9, 2013

Jurassic Park 3D: A Reel Podcast

    Jurassic Park 3D Release Date: April 5, 2013 (original release June 11, 1993) Runtime: 127 minutes Rating: PG-13 Studio: Universal Pictures Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Sam Neill; Laura Dern; Richard Attenborough; Jeff Goldblum; Joseph Mazzello; Ariana Richards; Wayne Knight; Samuel L. Jackson        
April 12, 2013

An Unmarried Woman

    An Unmarried Woman Release Date: March 5, 1978 Runtime: 124 minutes Rating: R Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Director: Paul Mazursky Cast: Jill Clayburgh; Alan Bates; Michael Murphy; Cliff Gorman; Lisa Lucas; Kelly Bishop     You know the expression “to feel like a fly on the wall?” That’s pretty […]
May 10, 2013

Pretty Woman

    Pretty Woman Release Date: March 23, 1990 Runtime: 119 minutes Rating: R Studio: Touchstone Pictures (Disney) Director: Garry Marshall Cast: Richard Gere; Julia Roberts; Hector Elizondo; Laura San Giacomo; Jason Alexander; Ralph Bellamy     Do you remember where you were when Julia Roberts became a movie star? You […]
April 24, 2014

August: Osage County

If there were an Olympic category for “Best Team Acting,” this big screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play would have swept the competition. Captained by ferocious performances by Meryl Streep (reminding us all of why she IS Meryl Streep) and Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County” invites us in for some seriously dysfunctional family good times.
January 17, 2016

Steve Jobs

I came away from this movie with a great big ‘eh.’ It’s typical Aaron Sorkin. By this, I mean lots of people shouting pithy one-liners at each other in rapid cadence. I can’t exactly put my finger on it but the movie just wasn’t very interesting. Steve Jobs, computer visionary, quasi-deadbeat dad, general asshole, was undoubtedly a fascinating man, but you don’t really get a sense of just how fascinating from the film. This is one of those movies where everyone is trying so hard to act importantly because they know they are in a big important event movie. Stop. Just stop.