There is a now-clichéd Tom Cruise speech in Cameron Crowe’s 1996 megahit, Jerry Maguire, which begins: “We live in a cynical world.” While the merits of that film, and that line, are now debatable, there is one unquestionable truth in Cruise’s statement: it truly sums up Cameron Crowe’s directorial ethos. Crowe believes that cynicism abounds…
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There are formidable problems with filming Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: the novel is lengthy, intricately-plotted, beloved by fans of its author, John le Carré, and already had a celebrated 1979 BBC television adaptation starring none other than Alec Guinness a.k.a. Obi-Wan Kenobi. The former issues aside, Guinness’ performance alone was so spot-on that le Carré…
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Martin Scorsese’s latest film Hugo, which opened yesterday in theaters, is indeed a “family film”, but do not let that dissuade you from seeing this amazing work from, arguably, our greatest living director. The movie tells the story of a young orphan who lives in the walls of a 1930’s Paris train station, repairing the…
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Currently in limited theatrical release, and VOD, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil packs a lot of substance into its 90-minute runtime. Tucker & Dale is a buddy comedy, a deconstruction of the redneck horror subgenre, a bloody gore fest and reverent homage to horror classics like The Evil Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. First-time…
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Tower Heist, which opens this weekend in theaters, is an entertaining film that hits its stride about 20 minutes in and shortly thereafter turns on the cinematic cruise control. There is nothing inherently bad about the film, save for its ridiculous finale, but Tower Heist ultimately amounts to barely more than squandered potential. The main…
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