Three and a Half Reels – Page 2

September 13, 2017

I, Tonya

Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya takes a ripped-from-the-headlines true story and infuses it with unexpected empathy. Invaluable assistance is provided from star Margot Robbie, whose performance here is even more star making than her showy breakout turn in Wolf of Wall Street. Her work, as well as that of co-stars Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney (not to mention director Gillespie and cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis) should garner plenty of attention come awards time.

August 17, 2017

Wonder Woman

All hail Wonder Woman!! After decades of development hell, the grand dame of DC Comics finally gets her own standalone movie…and what a movie it is! Easily taking her rightful place alongside (and surpassing, some would argue) the big screen treatments of her Justice League comrades, “Wonder Woman” is a knockout of an action movie, an origin story, and plain, old big budget popcorn entertainment.

December 4, 2016

The 4th Man

It’s only fitting that a movie review site called The 4th Reel review a movie called “The 4th Man,” so here goes! A virtual blueprint for his later, more mainstream potboiler “Basic Instinct,” “The 4th Man” exhibits all of the elements of director Paul Verhoeven’s mode of outrageous storytelling that has made him one of the most audacious film directors working today.

September 17, 2016

Sully

Hero worship doesn’t get much more blatant, or for that matter, more entertaining than “Sully,” Clint Eastwood’s dramatization of the Miracle on the Hudson from a few years back. Tom Hanks easily inhabits Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s wings in an effectively understated (and remarkably physically realized) performance that ranks among one of the actor’s best.

September 17, 2015

Black Mass

Johnny Depp is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination in what is arguably the best performance of his career as James “Whitey” Bulger, a small-time Boston hood who grew to become one of the FBI’s most wanted. Scott Cooper’s riveting “Black Mass,” based on the book of the same name by Boston Globe journalists Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, is a brutal and uncompromising piece, right in line with the life of its subject.

July 25, 2015

Trainwreck

Amy Schumer bulldozes her way onto the big screen playing a magnified version of her women-are-just-as-raunchy-as-men comedic persona in ‘Trainwreck.’ Schumer (who also wrote the screenplay) is a natural performer and going on the basis of her debut as a leading lady, we will be seeing lots more of her in years to come. That is a good thing. That is a very good thing.

May 31, 2014

Sorcerer

God bless the Film Forum! If it wasn’t for this extraordinary little theater on W. Houston, special engagements of overlooked movies like “Sorcerer” might never be seen on the big screen again, relegated to not-exactly-the-same laptop viewing.

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.

November 5, 2013

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

The Thomas Crown Affair Release Date: August 6, 1999 Runtime: 113 minutes Rating: R Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Director: John McTiernan Cast: Pierce Brosnan; Rene Russo; Denis Leary; Ben Gazzara; Frankie Faison This is a remake of the Steve McQueen – Faye Dunaway classic, unseen (at least at the […]

June 24, 2013

Passion

Screened at the Provincetown International Film Festival – June 22, 2013 – US premiere Passion Release Date: August 30, 2013 Runtime: 105 minutes Rating: R Studio: Entertainment One Director: Brian De Palma Cast: Rachel McAdams; Noomi Rapace; Karoline Herfurth; Paul Anderson De Palma is up to his […]

June 6, 2013

Skyfall

Skyfall Release Date: November 9, 2012 Runtime: 143 minutes Rating: PG-13 Studio: MGM / Columbia Pictures (Sony) Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Daniel Craig; Judi Dench; Javier Bardem; Ralph Fiennes; Naomie Harris; Bérénice Lim Marlohe; Ben Whishaw; Rory Kinnear; Albert Finney Every time I see a James Bond […]

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 […]