Part 3 of our Aaron Sorkin exploration… Rating: 3 and a half stars (out of 4) The opening sequence of The American President is so good, it would be enough to carry the rest of a mediocre film into watchable status. Thankfully, though, it doesn’t represent the extent of the pleasures here, in the film…
Our next Aaron Sorkin exploration… Rating: 2 stars (out of 4) The trailer for Charlie Wilson’s War and its IMDB page promise two very different movies. The latter will remind you of the tremendous amount of talent that has been gathered in front of and behind the camera, but the former promises only a breezy,…
With the much-anticipated The Social Network dropping in theaters this Friday, I thought it appropriate to look back on the career of the inimitable writer Aaron Sorkin. A comprehensive piece will be arriving later this week, but for now, let’s review a few of his most prominent films. Rating: 3 stars (out of 4) A…
Rating: 3 stars (out of 4) Is The Town ‘Heat meets The Departed,’ as the ads portray? No—it’s better. Is it Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck’s scintillating first directorial effort? Not quite, although comparing anything with a Dennis Lehane adaptation (hello, Mystic River and Shutter Island) is unfair. Should it put the final nail in…
Edit: You’re probably better off reading Grant’s excellent review of Inception than this rambly mind dump. Proceed at your own peril — this is a wordy post. Taking a break from my month of animation posts, here is a semi-review of Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster, Inception. Before you read on, I should warn you that…
Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) “With Inception hitting theaters, we take a look at movies that take a dark view of the future.” So declared the Rotten Tomatoes website today, and in the same spirit, I revisit 2006’s criminally underappreciated sci-fi classic. Every once in a while, a movie comes out that puts together…
Rating: **** (out of 4) Sorry, Shutter Island. Toy Story 3 is my favorite movie I’ve seen this year, and it’s not even close. I’m an unashamed Pixar fanboy, so you should probably take my reactions with a grain of salt. But here is my attempt to persuade you to see Pixar’s latest masterpiece, in…
Culminating the recent stretch of graduation/high school/transition period movies reviewed with the best film of the ‘Your whole life is ahead of you, but what do you do?’ genre I’ve seen. Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) Garden State was the first movie I ever loved. It was the first film I remember seeing that…
Rating: 3 stars (out of 4) When I finished Dazed and Confused the first time, I didn’t really know what I thought of it. But after some reflection and a second viewing, I understand its goals and can see how skillfully it achieves them. Dazed follows nobody’s rules. It’s flawed, unconventional, funny, and completely outrageous. …
Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) Bull Durham is far and away the best sports movie of all-time, but I hate to classify it as much because it’s also so much more. It’s a great romantic comedy, a very funny movie, a very poignant movie, and when all put together, an exceptional piece of art. …