In the summer of 1990, Warren Beatty’s labor-of-love, Dick Tracy, became a surprise commercial hit, earned acclaim for its visuals and technical artistry, and went on to win a number of high-profile awards. Its cast was bursting with stars and beloved character actors. So why, 25 years on, does it feel so forgotten? Certainly, director-producer-star …
Manglehorn dabbles in the strange and peculiar, but at its core, it may be director David Gordon Green’s safest and least rewarding drama yet. The film contains weird scribbles in its margins, but the narrative is thin and contains little chew on. A.J. Manglehorn (Al Pacino) is a grizzled locksmith and wounded soul living in small-town Texas, still aching for a woman named Clara who got away many years ago. He sends regretful letters to her like clockwork but they always find a way back to his mailbox unread. Manglehorn now spends his days cutting locks, looking after his ill cat and making kind, flirty conversation with Dawn (Holly Hunter), the friendly bank teller he visits each week.
Angelo Manglehorn (Al Pacino) is a man adrift. He has no connections to tie him to the world, no close relationships with family or friends. As a locksmith, he spends his days crafting spare keys or helping people who have locked themselves out of their cars. When the day is done, he returns home to spend the evening with his sole companion: his cat, Fanny. Much like its eponymous character, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn drifts aimlessly, never bothering to make meaningful connections between characters or story elements.
10. Waterworld Directed by: Kevin Reynolds It could be the flop of all flops. At the time, “Waterworld” was the most expensive film ever made. Starring Kevin Costner, “Waterworld” is a science-fiction/fantasy film taking place roughly 500 years after the polar ice caps melted in the beginning of the 21st century, effectively covering the entire …
In 2009, New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani referred to Philip Roth’s novella The Humbling as “an overstuffed short story, […] a slight, disposable work about an aging man’s efforts to grapple with time and loss and mortality, and the frustrations of getting old.” In 2015, that sentiment rings just as true of Barry Levinson’s adaptation of the same work. The Humbling runs too long, dawdles too much, makes hollow caricatures of its women, and muddles its intentions. Its most redeeming features are its performances; Al Pacino is in top form, with Greta Gerwig playfully keeping up. But neither can elevate this failed attempt at pathos above what it is: bland.
Michael Mann is fascinated by obsessives who work on opposite sides of the law. In fact, when you go over his filmography, it’s filled with them: loners who are hardened by choice and keep others at a constant arm’s-length, indulging in their skills instead. Starting in 1981, Mann made his first feature, Thief, about a …
The New York Film Festival starts today, and with it critics and industry members will get their first look at Gone Girl and Inherent Vice, leaving only a few studio tent poles remaining throughout the fall. They’ll also get a renewed look at Mr. Turner, Foxcatcher, and Birdman, so expect those to be back in …
David Gordon Green has never allowed himself to be easily pinned down as a filmmaker. After making his name with dreamy independent films about relationships and growing up, he moved onto big budget comedies of varying quality. While even his most dire efforts bring a certain amount of style (even the awful Your Highness had a compelling visual softness not usually associated with medieval stoner comedies), many have mourned the direction of his career. His newest effort, Manglehorn, feels like a bastard child of these two worlds. In many ways it’s his most visually adventurous film since his career began, but it’s hardly a return to his early work in terms of feel, theme or style.
Most people today would likely be shocked to think that in 1972, The Godfather went into the Oscars anything but a sure bet for Best Picture. Aside from Casablanca and Citizen Kane it is recognized as the greatest American film of all time and in hind sight most people forget that not only was …
Carlito’s Way Written by David Koepp Directed by Brian De Palma 1993, USA In the upper echelon of gangster pictures, peopled with the likes of Goodfellas, Scarface, The Godfather, and Casino, there are forgotten gems that are often ignored. Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way is one such diamond in the genre’s rough. This is a film …
Christopher Nolan has earned carte blanche by dint of not just vision and execution but depth; he always buries material under the surface. Are you watching closely?
There are few unrealized projects in the history of cinema more tantalizingly fascinating than Stanley Kubrick’s planned feature about Napoleon
Read our appreciation of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve here and here, respectively. * * * “I’m a goddamn American icon!” Depending on where you stand on Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen represents either a group of enormously famous actors going back to salvage the goodwill they squandered in the middle entry of the franchise, or that same …
Movie stars, as we know them, are not so much dead in 2013 as much as they’re no longer making movies. Celebrity has stretched far beyond film or television; people become famous now without having accomplished much of anything, just for being at the right place at the right time, or tweeting out the right scandalous photo to set afire the comments sections at TMZ or Perez Hilton. Though movies cost more than they used to—both to make and to partake—they are less frequently headlined by a man or woman whose very presence ensures bankability. A handful of movie stars remain, yet even someone like Robert Downey, Jr. can only guarantee a movie will make back its profit and then some when he’s donned his Iron Man suit.
Locations in films are rarely the thing an average filmgoer remembers after watching a film; it’s always about the story, character and the lines they say that later form the proverbial ‘word of mouth.’ However, when you think of great confrontations, conversations and simple exchanges, they always take place in a nice public setting – …
Each and every month, we here at Sound On Sight dedicate the entire month to a specific theme. Sometimes we follow an event, an actor, a filmmaker and so on, as decided by our readers who vote on our monthly poll. February of 2013 was dedicated to actor Keanu Reeves. When the results came in, …
This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother. **** Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful …
Stand Up Guys Directed by Fisher Stevens Written by Noah Haidle USA, 2013 Embarrassment sets in after roughly 15 minutes of Stand Up Guys, not so much for its stars, Al Pacino and Christopher Walken, going through the motions of hacky jokes about how good the old days were. Instead, the kind of awkward feeling …
Carlito’s Way Directed by Brian De Palma Screenplay by David Koepp (Original Novels ‘Carlito’s Way’ and ‘After Hours’ by Edwin Torres) US, 1993 Unfortunate though the fact may be, even the most positive minded and patient of film addicts cannot always be satisfied by the product, a disquiet often in defiance of popular opinion. We …
It has been quite a year for Al Pacino after receiving tons of praise and accolades for his portrayal of Jack Kevorkian in HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack. Now Variety has revealed Pacino may be setting out for a similar road for a film about another real life figure, French artist Henry Matisse titled Masterpiece. The story is said to …
New cast in Kervorkian film: The cast of the new film about the high profile doctor, Dr. Jack Kervorkian, who fought “…to establish the right to die for terminally ill patients…” has announced an expansion of its cast. The made-for-TV film is entitled “You Don’t Know Jack,” and it will be directed by Barry Levinson. …
Hot off the heels of a big critical success with Adventureland, Greg Mattola’s upcoming Simon Pegg and Nick Frost sci-fi comedy Paul has gotten a lot more interesting. Variety reports that a ridiculous quantity of talent has now been added to the project: Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Jane Lynch, Bill Hader, and the glorious Kristen …