Category: Mindless Mondays

I loved this movie. This is the type of rousing, sharp, entirely perceptive big-studio drama that Hollywood almost doesn’t make anymore. [It’s telling that a man many credit with “ruining” the adult aesthetic of the 70’s, Steven Spielberg, is now making some of the most mature and sophisticated films out there.] Some may think it’s…

This is the rare movie I wish I had seen in 3D. [I’m told it has some of the best 3D since Avatar.] And even in two dimensions, Ang Lee’s latest wildcard is visually stunning. The problem I have is that the look of the movie wowed me but it kept me at arm’s length…

For those that don’t know, this is a remake of the 80’s Charlie Sheen/Patrick Swayze macho-fest where the Russians take over a small town in Colorado, and a ragtag group of misfits (is there any other kind?) fight an insurgency campaign against them. Now, this is a really interesting idea for a movie and it might…

Twilight, Breaking Dawn: Part II (you know a franchise has gone on too long when you have to classify its sequels into subsections) will be the most divisive movie of the year. Barack vs. Romney, who cares? “Does Twilight suck or is it, like, the best ever?” That’s the real blood sport taking place across…

Skyfall——for the 12 people on Earth that don’t know——is the latest James Bond movie, although, since people don’t seem to remember the titles of these movies, maybe it should just be called “James Bond, 2012 episode.” Skyfall is a really curious case of a movie that works yet doesn’t astound. It has so many great…

The Sessions is an independent film many won’t get the chance to see, but they should seek it out if it’s playing in a smaller theater they might not ordinarily go to. It’s the real-life story of a paralyzed, Polio-afflicted poet (John Hawkes, so different here than as the ambiguously menacing uncle in Winter’s Bone,…

This movie isn’t unwatchable, but it is lazy, uninspired, poorly plotted, and——in the end——more than a little bit boring. It’s more of an attitude than a real movie. What Works: Russell Crowe is clearly having a good time (and, unlike the other actors, it doesn’t look fake) as an ambiguous sword fighter whose true allegiances…

Flight is the perfect example of a movie that has everything going for it: The rare great actor who’s also a movie star (Denzel Washington). A director who’s been around forever (Robert Zemeckis). An ace supporting cast filled with talented character actors (John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Bruce Greenwood) and sexy women (Garcelle Beauvais,…