You can enjoy it as an action thriller but the underlying stories and significance go way beyond that. I’ll take Elysium over a comic book hero movie any day.
All in Drama
Benh Zeitlin's BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
I’m glad I saw this film, it’s a pleasure to see something that’s grounded in reality but sufficiently fantastic to the point where the dividing line between the two becomes blurred.
Tom McCarthy's THE STATION AGENT
While watching this film I said to myself, “If I could make a movie this is the kind of movie I’d make.”
Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN
My first reaction, walking out of the theater after the credits, was to ask my wife, “How is it possible that the same guy who directed a terrifying movie like War of the Worlds could then go on to do something like LIncoln?”
Hey-jun Lee's CASTAWAY ON THE MOON
A young man, depressed, tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. Instead he washes up onto a small island in the middle of the river and is cut off from the city.
Israel Adrián Caetano's A RED BEAR (Un Oso Rojo)
Director Caetano makes a beautiful gem of a movie out of worn out concepts:
Álex de la Iglesia's THE LAST CIRCUS
Some of the words come to my mind while watching this film include:
Lena Dunham's TINY FURNITURE
As a parent of two twenty-somethings I watched this film with a growing sense of horror and wanted to reach out and slap some sense into the main character.
Michel Hazanavicius' THE ARTIST
Exuberant, charming, and immensely entertaining, THE ARTIST tells ths story of a silent movie star in Hollywood whose career topples when talkies come along.
Alexander Payne's THE DESCENDANTS
The wheels of life grind slowly for all of us. Occasionally they mesh and multiple bad things happen to otherwise ordinary, even nice people. It’s the luck of the draw, or maybe just fate. In the end, we suffer, but how we deal with adversity says a lot about who we are.
This courtroom drama follows the defense of Mary Surrat who operated the Washington DC boarding house where Abraham Lincoln’s assassins concocted their plot in 1865.
Terrence Malik's “TREE OF LIFE”
This is one of the most emotionally engaging films I’ve ever seen. I’m not completely sure why.
Unrelentingly grim, this movie follows a group of 14th Century soldiers as they seek out a remote village in the English countryside that is rumored to have been spared a visit by the bubonic plague.
Debra Granik's WINTER'S BONE
The Ozark back country depicted in this film is one that Facebook and Twitter have ignored. Or maybe it’s the other way around.
The Coen Brothers' TRUE GRIT
Readers of my book and movie review will know about my occasional hankering for a Western. It’s no surprise I was looking forward to this movie especially given my positive reaction to my recent discovery of the novel.
What an extraordinary film this is. Visually it’s a feast; colors and clever framing delight the eye. The plot twists and turns. And Penélope Cruz positively glows in scene after scene.
Daniel Barber's HARRY BROWN
In my book, Michael Caine can do no wrong — this vigilante movie is another example.
Na Hong-Jin’s “THE CHASER”
Following the success of Silence of the Lambs, movie and TV audiences have been treated to many pale imitations, most of which have failed to excite or provide any serious dramatic interest
Alexander Sokurov's THE SUN
I have no idea how factually accurate this movie about Emperor Hirohito’s emergence following Japan’s defeat in WWII is. As a movie, though, it is engrossing, thoughtful, and occasionally, visually dazzling.
Val Guest's DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE
Val Guest’s businesslike direction and matter-of-fact approach to depicting extraordinary circumstances in a near-documentary style here yield a still-watchable and very entertaining thriller that takes place in London in the early 1960’s.