Keith Bernstein/Warner Brothers Pictures
MOVIE REVIEW
Jersey Boys (2014)
Based on Des McAnuff’s Tony-winning musical about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, the big-screen adaptation of “Jersey Boys” under the direction of Clint Eastwood seems like the antithesis of Rob Marshall movie musicals. With the meteoric rise, rock-bottom fall and all the fourth-wall breaking, the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice keeps hinting at its potential as the next “Casino” or “Boogie Nights.” But Mr. Eastwood seems oblivious to these thematic cues, and instead directs it in his typical B-movie low key as seen in “Million Dollar Baby.”
Continue reading “A Fistful of Doo-wops” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
Chuck Zlotnick/CBS Films
“Seven Psychopaths” brings to mind the Tarantino knockoffs that Miramax used to crank out on the assembly line during its mid-1990s heyday, when such movies were de rigueur among neophytes straight out of film school. Their snappy one-liners, gratuitous gore and self-aware metaness have often seemed more impressive to the filmmakers themselves than to card-carrying cinephiles. While Quentin Tarantino himself references iconic filmmakers from Jean-Luc Godard to John Woo, those who reference Mr. Tarantino instead merely expose themselves as blissfully ignorant hacks who could really use a college-level introductory film course.
Continue reading “Reservoir Dog Pile” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Dark Horse (2011)
Jojo Whilden/37th Deauville
American Film Festival
If Gregg Araki ever decides to remake “Synecdoche, New York,” Todd Solondz might sue the pants off him — because with “Dark Horse,” Mr. Solondz has already done it.
It’s the story of Abe (Jordan Gelber), an overgrown man-child who still lives with his parents, Jackie (Christopher Walken with a bad toupee) and Phyllis (Mia Farrow with some oversize red glasses). He works — after a fashion — for his father’s company; although only the competence of downtrodden colleague Marie (Donna Murphy in an impossible role) keeps him from even greater professional trouble. His main love has been shopping at a big-box toy store whose logo is conspicuously blurred. But that’s before Abe meets Miranda (Selma Blair), a sulky, oddly passive woman who also still lives at home and has a secret.
Continue reading “Welcome to the Doghouse” »