As much as Gracepoint is about the mystery of who killed Danny Solano, it is also about the deadly paranoia that can infect a small town. “Episode Five” found Carver (David Tennant) and Ellie (Anna Gunn) stumbling upon more secrets and realizing that Jack (Nick Nolte) may very well be their most viable suspect.
Hateship Loveship Written by Mark Jude Poirier Directed by Liza Johnson USA, 2013 Alice Munro is one of the finest living fiction writers, consistently able to create tight stories with hidden depths about uniquely aching and awkward characters. A few years ago, Sarah Polley adapted one of her stories from the collection Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, …
Gangster Squad Directed by Ruben Fleischer Written by Will Beall USA, 2013 At some point, an excess of style only serves to emphasize the hollowness of a story. A director like Martin Scorsese knows how to weave a sprawling tale of vice and amorality while juicing up the proceedings with verve and panache. On the …
A chronicle of the LAPD’s fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s. Directed by Zombieland‘s Ruben Fleischer, and written by Castle staff writer Will Beall, based on the book by Paul Lieberman
Warrior Directed by Gavin O’Connor Screenplay by Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis & Cliff Dorfman USA, 2011 There’s always an element of mystery when viewing films for this column, a naïve and hopelessly romantic despairing at the fact that an absolute gift of a movie is neglected by the masses, especially when said motion picture is …
Tom Noonan as Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter (Michael Mann, 1986, USA): Noonan is absolutely incredible as a serial murderer in this underrated adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon. With all respect to the talented but miscast actors involved in Brett Ratner’s 2002 adaptation Red Dragon (USA), with the exception of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal …
Luck, Season 1 , Episode 9 Written by Eric Roth Directed by Mimi Leder Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO “Today’s the day they take it all away from us.” If you were looking for doomy portent to tie in with the fact that this is now in all likelihood the last episode of …
Luck, Season 1, Episode 8 Written by John R. Perrotta and Jay Hovdey Directed by Allen Coulter Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO This week, Mike had Nathan Israel cut up into little pieces, wrapped in plastic, and thrown overboard, never to be seen again. A similar fate befell Luck itself in the same …
Luck, Season 1, Episode 7 Written by Amanda Ferguson Directed by Brian Kirk Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO “Syntax!” In David Milch-land, words and language are king. They have power, but that power can be tragically misapplied. That’s a lesson poor Nathan Israel learns too late in “Episode Seven”‘s most memorable sequence, in …
Luck, Season 1, Episode 6 Written by Robin Shushan Directed by Henry Bronchtein Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO In Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, an act of God ripped straight from the Old Testament seems to tear uncannily from the sky and set right the paths of a dozen or so misdirected souls, defying …
Luck, Season 1, Episode 5 Written by Scott Willson Directed by Brian Kirk Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO For a show initially mostly noted for its denseness and incomprehensibility, Luck seems awfully human in “Episode Five.” Possibly the least racing-intensive outing yet, this week principally works towards getting us better acquainted with a …
Luck, Season One, Episode Four Written by Jay Hovdey Directed by Phillip Noyce Airs Sundays at 10pm EST on HBO Several of the small legion of critics who have access to Luck‘s entire first season have been claiming for weeks that it’s in this fourth installment that the show really kicks it up a notch …
Luck, Season One, Episode Three Written by Bill Barich Directed by Allen Coulter Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO First, a word about the controversy surrounding the show that arose this week. For the uninitiated, it came out that two horses perished over the course of the filming of the show’s first season; as …
Luck, Season One, Episode Two Written by John R. Perrotta Directed by Terry George Airs Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO “The Ace is back in place.” To Luck‘s credit, it goes to great lengths to put all of its players on an even keel in terms of representation on the screen; that means the …
Luck, Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot” Written by David Milch Directed by Michael Mann Airs Sundays on HBO More than most series – and even more than most HBO series – Luck is facing down a hell of a set of expectations. For the first time since the disastrously-received (but, in some corners, quietly revered) …
Warrior Directed by Gavin O’Connor Written by Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman, based on a story by Gavin O’Connor and Cliff Dorfman USA, 2011 imdb Is there anything sadder than a movie that never achieves its potential? Like a university star athlete who fizzles in the majors, Warrior is a film with a …