Alex Majoli
In the Hand of Dante (2025)
“In the Hand of Dante” emerges as the most controversial selection at Venice International Film Festival. In and of itself, it is not the least bit offensive, but thousands of Palestine supporters took to the streets on Aug. 30 in Lido, the island where all festivities are based. It’s no surprise that 1,500 industry types petitioned to ban the film’s Israeli star, Gal Gadot. Though she has ultimately skipped the world premiere, “In the Hand of Dante” is still catching heat in the press due to director-cowriter Julian Schnabel’s defense of his star.
Continue reading “Literary Gem” »
Stefan Weinberger
MOVIE REVIEW
The Line (2023)
It’s not that boys will be boys, or men will be men. It’s power corrupting power. It’s an ugly mentality but one that we, as a society, seem completely disinterested in changing, even as movies about disgusting frat-house culture can be made anew every couple of years. “The Line” is a solid, but not smart, addition to the genre. On the plus side, it knows to its bones the games men play with each other that aren’t really games. On the minus, it has no idea at all about how power includes women. This lazy omission means “The Line” comes up short.
Continue reading “The Conformist” »
Filmgalerie 451
MOVIE REVIEW
Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes (2023)
When did John Malkovich become this generation's Orson Welles? By this I do not mean as a director. I mean as an actor, able to single-handedly enable the financing and carry the weirdest projects with ease just by showing up? If anyone is in doubt of this, I invite you to enjoy a viewing of “Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes,” a ridiculous Eurotrashfire of a movie which could not possibly have existed without him. Why did we stop making movies like this? They are so beautiful and so over the top you feel smarter just for thinking about them.
Continue reading “The Emperor’s New Foes” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Red 2 (2013)
Jan Thijs/Summit Entertainment
In “Red 2,” Bruce Willis’s retired C.I.A. operative Frank Moses and his former unwitting hostage/ward, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), very briefly enjoy their domestic bliss shopping at Costco before Marvin (John Malkovich) suddenly emerges from the next aisle urging them to join him. A Cold War-era document concerning a missing nuclear weapon has surfaced online (opportunity to name-drop WikiLeaks/Reddit/2chan missed), implicating Frank and Marvin by name. Just about every major power’s intelligence agency, infiltrated by its own bloodthirsty warmonger, wants to capture the two in order to secure the weapon of mass destruction and serve its particular agenda. And Frank’s friend (Helen Mirren), foe (Lee Byung-hun) and old flame (Catherine Zeta-Jones) have each enlisted to be hot on his trail.
Continue reading “Stop Worrying and Love the Gun” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Disgrace (2008)
Paladin
While most works of literature and cinema centered on South Africa have focused on the experience of Apartheid, Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee’s “Disgrace” — a Booker Prize winning novel published in 1999 — broke from that trend. An urgent piece of contemporary fiction that serves as a warning against false complacency in the post-Apartheid era, it reveals a country still torn at its roots despite the progress that had occurred earlier in the decade.
Continue reading “Cry Thraldom” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Great Buck Howard (2009)
Magnolia Pictures
“The Great Buck Howard” works because writer-director Sean McGinly had the good sense to cast John Malkovich as the title character, and because Mr. Malkovich knew he could do wonders with the role and said yes. Although the screenplay adopts the perspective of Troy (Colin Hanks), assistant to the past-his-prime mentalist Buck Howard, this movie belongs to its star. A cauldron of limitless energy, maniacal narcissism and full-throttle passion for his art, the character casts such a giant shadow over the production that the picture lives or dies based on the success of his portrayal. Thankfully, Mr. Malkovich makes him one of the standout characters in a unique, prestigious career.
Continue reading “Has-Been Mentalist Draws More Tricks From His Sleeve” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Changeling (2008)
Tony Rivetti, Jr./Universal Studios
Clint Eastwood’s latest film, “Changeling” – starring Angelina Jolie – dramatically explores the true story of a woman, her son, and an unusual abduction. The plot centers around a single mother, Christine Collins (Ms. Jolie), whose son Walter disappears one day in 1928. Desperate with grief and concern, she puts her faith in the Los Angeles Police Department, which is suffering from major public-relation problems due to excessive force and corrupt dealings. Months later, she receives news that her boy has been found. But when she meets him at the train station, she is less than joyful. The boy is clearly not her son, and she makes her feelings known to the people who brought him to her. The LAPD is unable to own up to the mistake, insisting that he is her boy but – due to his abduction and time away from home – perhaps he has “changed.”
Continue reading “Mother, Interrupted” »
