John Goodman

Joel and Ethan Coen, supported by an extraordinarily complex performance from Oscar Isaac in the title role, craft a moving, thoughtful, and, in a peculiar way, stimulating film.

Though there is much to admire in ‘Trumbo,’ it never quite sparks to life

From the opening credits sequence, Love the Coopers feels like classic studio holiday schmaltz. Santa Clauses ride around town, dogs dressed in Hanukkah and Christmas garb embrace, and families take pictures for greeting cards. The Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal” scores the montage, completing an idyllic portrait of dull but harmless seasonal cheer.

Usually the first thing added to a film when it is remade is glitz. American films from the 1970s had their own distinct, philosophical quality to them, something that inevitably gets lost in translation when the material is put to screen again by a new team of filmmakers. Still, the one thing I didn’t anticipate while watching screenwriter William Monahan and star Mark Wahlberg tackle The Gambler was a lack of visceral thrills. Director Rupert Wyatt’s film nails the look of 1974’s The Gambler, but it lacks the feel of the original.

With Disney leading its renaissance with self-serious titles with tales accounting Greek (Hercules), Native American (Pocahontas), and Chinese (Mulan) empires, it may seem like a slight against the Disney-fication of the South American pre-Inca empire to present a through-and-through comedy. Indeed, The Emperor’s New Groove was fully prepared to be another historical drama firmly planted in Disney canon under the title of Kingdom of the Sun, but thanks to economic troubles (read as: really weird circumstances best covered in the documentary The Sweatbox. Look to Josh’s piece and the Mousterpiece podcast for further reading.) its fate was left to the comedic stylings of Mark Dindal. It’s the sort of destiny that may have lead New Groove to the realm of films like its predecessor in Disney-proper, Dinosaur, doing well at the box office, but scorned from critical attention and far away from Disney canon.

The Monuments Men Written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov Directed by George Clooney USA and Germany, 2014 The high-school history teachers of the world, or at least of the United States, can breathe easy, because they’ll have a new movie to add to their collections soon enough. Right before exam week, they can pop …

Inside Llewyn Davis Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen USA, 2013 It takes only a few minutes of Inside Llewyn Davis for its title character to comfortably enter the pantheon of iconic characters created by Joel and Ethan Coen. There’s no point, granted, in comparing him directly to Barton Fink or Marge …

The Coen Brothers return with Inside Llewyn Davis, a caustic yet affectionate glimpse into a struggling artist’s life during the folk music scene of the early ‘60s. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac of Drive) is a temperamental musician in Greenwich Village whose poor decision-making and an inability to connect to others outside of selfish reasons have landed him with little more than the clothes on his back.

Like Father, Like Son There’s a sweetness and emotional weight to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s tales about children and family dynamics that instantly recalls another great Japanese auteur, Yasujiro Ozu. Kore-eda’s previous film, 2011’s I Wish, follows a pair of brothers who plot a long-traveled reunion following their parents’ separation. Over the course of two breezy hours, …

It’s 2013, and in the world of pop culture, most of us comfortably take Pixar for granted. Here is a studio that, from 1995 to 2010, churned out financially successful films that were also unique, exciting, fresh, and captivating in ways other movie studios could only dream of. The relatively dark days arrived with Cars 2, a sequel to a movie that wasn’t as well-liked (rightly so) as Pixar’s other work.

Monsters, Inc. Directed by Pete Docter Written by Andrew Stanton and Daniel Gerson Starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, James Coburn, Steve Buscemi Here’s a question that has nagged at me for the last few years: what, really, is the difference between a film made by Pixar Animation Studios and a film made by DreamWorks Animation? …

Flight Directed by Robert Zemeckis Written by John Gatins USA, 2012 Denzel Washington oozes charisma from every pore. Over the last two decades, he’s been one of the few actors whose charm can boost even the weakest effort, capable of elevating himself and his fellow performers above meager material. As he’s aged, Washington has shrewdly …

Argo Directed by Ben Affleck Written by Chris Terrio USA, 2012 Improbably, Ben Affleck has turned his career around in the last few years from the pit where such cinematic embarrassments as Gigli and Daredevil forever reside. He’s essentially transformed himself from a tabloid cover-star into a poised actor-director who subscribes to the “Hollywood doesn’t …

Argo Directed by Ben Affleck Written by Chris Terrio USA, 2012 Ben Affleck’s latest directorial effort Argo is a tightly woven anecdote to history that utilizes a stranger than fiction preposterousness to strong crowd pleasing effect. The declassified true story reveals the unorthodox ingenuity involved in the unlikely coordination between Hollywood and the CIA as …

The Artist Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius France/Belgium, 2011 This review contains some minor narrative spoilers. Contrary to an assertion prominent in its now mammoth publicity machine, The Artist is not a silent film. There are actually some notable examples of diegetic sound within it, and aside from being in black and white, though …

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.  …