Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bir zamanlar Anadolu’da)
Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia begins with what seems to be an impossible task -- finding a buried body in the vast expanse of…
Chickflix Movie Marathon: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
(Update: This is a marathon for all seasons) It’s winter! Time to hibernate in front of the big-screen TV with a hot drink, a bowl of popcorn, and a stack…
Django Unchained
I am not a huge Tarantino fan. I was when he started out with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but then he went through a phase that I can only…
Promised Land
Promised Land is a well-acted and well-meaning movie that unfortunately lacks the one key ingredient that every good drama desperately needs… drama. It’s almost too balanced for its own good,…
The Hidden Fortress 隠し砦の三悪人
The Hidden Fortress may not be one of the most well known of Kurasawa's films, but it is a wonderfully entertaining mix of adventure, comedy and drama. It opens with…
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is an ode to the greatest sushi chef in the world, Jiro Ono. This 85-year old sushi master has been at his craft for 75 years…
Arbitrage
Arbitrage is already out on DVD, so this brief review falls into the ‘better late than never’ category. I actually watched Arbitrage on the heels of Flight and it made…
Barbara
East Germany in 1980 really must have been a dystopian hell on earth. In the film Barbara, a doctor is exiled from Berlin for a minor offense and forced to…
The Impossible
You’ll need the tissues for this one. Seriously. It’s nearly impossible not to cry watching The Impossible. The movie is gripping and intense, horrifying and uplifting- all at once. It’s…
This Is 40
Writer/director Judd Apatow’s midlife crisis comedy This is 40 is not that funny, or even that good – especially for a movie that the studio has been touting for major…