Festival de Cannes
MOVIE REVIEW
The Phoenician Scheme (2025)
“The Phoenician Scheme” is, for better or worse, an archetypal Wes Anderson movie. The Cannes Film Festival competition entry is, once again, a timeless motion storybook about affluent eccentrics that’s symmetrical, pastel and droll. While Mr. Anderson’s rigorous mise en scène is always to be admired, telling a tale like this in the techbro oligarchy era is a choice – sort of like the cinematic equivalent of let them eat cake.
Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
MOVIE REVIEW
Asteroid City (2023)
It's the way in which he uses physical things and precise language that makes him so easy to parody, but that is also his appeal. Wes Anderson is the only director currently working with such a clear visual style that it can be endlessly parodied without any further explanation. This is his gift but as “Asteroid City” makes clear, also his curse. Mr. Anderson is a sensitive, thoughtful director of grief and disappointment, but his messages of the need of kindness and the importance of true human connection are often lost under his aesthetic. That aesthetic overshadows how actors are fighting to work for him even in the smallest of parts; his gentle sense of humor is overlooked; and his willingness to explore even the tiniest detail within a frame makes his movies treasures which can be continually revisited without sound. On the other hand, deep in the credits of his newest offering, there’s mention of a yodelling consultant. So he’s on the verge of becoming a parody of himself.
Lacey Terrell/TriStar Pictures
MOVIE REVIEW
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
This is Marielle Heller’s third movie, and with it she confirms her status as one of the finest directors now working. Her first movie, “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” told the difficult story of a clever 15-year-old who voluntarily begins sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend. Her second, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” showed how a writer who had lost her way was able to find herself again by co-opting other people’s voices. And now, with this movie that is not quite about beloved television host Fred Rogers, she gives us the road map to become better people. It’s an extraordinary achievement.
MOVIE REVIEW
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
François Duhamel/Walt Disney Studios
No one's hidden pain may be left undocumented these days, and most creative works end up being skinned so that the inner workings of their makers' tormented minds can be laid out on the operating table for inspection. This urge may throw some new light on the activities of characters in a story like "Mary Poppins," where the internalized pain and regrets of a young Australian girl can be seamlessly projected forward onto the book she wrote in later life, lending resonance to every poignant plot point. But it's a strange modern way to interact with art, which has historically been expected to present a mirror to your own personality, rather than provide a hotline to the one buzzing in the head of P. L. Travers. Plus a lot of immortal literature for young people was written by mature individuals with issues, and what does it matter? Look at Enid Blyton; the definitive film about her would have to be made by Wes Craven.
MOVIE REVIEW
Captain Phillips (2013)
Hopper Stone/Columbia Pictures
Critics are probably giddy at the prospect of making seasickness the gag line of their “Captain Phillips” reviews, given that handheld camerawork is the stock in trade of director Paul Greengrass. All joking aside, consider it fair warning, as one could conceivably get queasy before Tom Hanks’s eponymous captain even sets sail. Once at sea, the photography actually seems placid, perhaps because you’ve grown accustomed to the shakiness or it simply pales in comparison to the relentlessly turbulent unfolding of this fact-based drama about the 2009 Somali pirates’ hijacking of the container ship Maersk Alabama.
MOVIE REVIEW
Larry Crowne (2011)
Bruce Talamon/Universal Pictures
The pairing of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts warrants some kind of all-time rom-com classic. “Charlie Wilson’s War” wasn’t it. Unfortunately, neither is “Larry Crowne” — far from it, in fact. Co-written by Mr. Hanks and Nia Vardalos, the new film recalls the most pedestrian, episodic sitcomesque qualities of the latter’s claim to fame, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” It just leaves you wondering why Mr. Hanks — who also dons the director’s hat here — couldn’t at least call Nora Ephron in for a rewrite.
MOVIE REVIEW
Angels & Demons (2009)
Zade Rosenthal/Columbia Pictures
“Angels & Demons” is a serviceable bit of nonsense from the Dan Brown pipeline. As a Ron Howard-directed film, it’s tighter and more exciting than “The Da Vinci Code,” but still hampered by a rather thorough ridiculousness. So much can be made of the insular, mysterious inner workings of the Roman Catholic Church, that it’s a shame such a ripe milieu has, for the second time, been reduced to common thriller fodder.
Continue reading “Vatican in the Spotlight, Losing Its Religion” »
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” »
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