MCN Originals
Wilmington on Movies: Fast and Furious 6
If you’re looking for a slam-bang movie full of spectacular car chases and mindbending action, Fast & Furious 6—the latest installment in the tire-burning, dumbfounding Fast & Furious series—is obviously your pedal-to-the-metal hot ticket. It‘s the kind of movie where the only logical (or illogical) response from longtime fans may be ‘”Wowie,“ “yowie“ or “zowie.” But if you’re looking for a movie that makes a lick of sense, or has a line of dialogue worth repeating, or a character or situation that isn’t either a howling cliché or a howling absurdity—take your pick—you’ve come to the wrong pit stop.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Cannes Out-Of-Competition Review: All Is Lost
All is Lost is less concerned with what this story is “about” and more with how it all goes down (to be sure, the picture could be summarized in a single sentence). Rather, the actions and subsequent emotions are the narrative here; the expressions on Redford’s face speaking volumes despite the film’s outright lack of dialogue.
Read the full article » No Comments »Wilmington on DVDs: Jubal, 3:10 to Yuma, Safe Haven, Parker
Jubal (Also Blu-ray) (Three Stars) U.S.: Delmer Daves, 1956 (Criterion Collection) My grandma Marie Tulane, who was born in Sweden and died in Wisconsin, often said she liked Westerns because the scenery was so beautiful. I think she would have liked Delmer Daves’ 1956 Jubal, starring Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine and Rod Steiger…
Read the full article » No Comments »Wilmington on DVDs: Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver will probably never again look as good, or as inspiring, as it did in 1942, when it helped solidify the Anglo-American wartime bond. It’s a typically polished Wyler production, with pristine-looking black-and white cinematography by ace Joseph Ruttenberg.
Read the full article » No Comments »Cannes ’13: What Is This Thing Called Love?
One of the other great decisions—which I wondered about while watching the film—was that it doesn’t linger on the unaccepting voices in Adèle’s life. Nor are they dismissed. The character, it turns out, doesn’t sweat the small stuff. But when things matter to her, they matter quite deeply… no commitment-phobe she.
Read the full article » 9 Comments »Cannes Competition Review: Only God Forgives
Only God Forgives is essentially the nastiest highlights of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” and Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” wrapped around a revenge dance tête-à-tête, an equation that could have been more than the gratuitous, hyper-violent indulgence on show.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Cannes Competition Review: Behind The Candelabra
Resembling the face of Liberace himself, Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra is a dazzling albeit saggy film, made competently and with sincere respect to its topic despite losing steam in its second hour.
Read the full article » No Comments »The DVD Wrapup
Beautiful Creatures, Cloud Atlas, Nightfall, Common Man, Love Sick Love, Rolling Thunder, Bad-Ass Girl, Ecstacy … and so much more…
Read the full article » No Comments »The Weekend Report
Star Trek: Into Darkness zapped the competition as it launched an estimated $68.2 million in its maiden theatrical voyage. The Enterprise was the sole new wide national release.
Read the full article » No Comments »Wilmington on Movies: The Iceman
I tell you, Michael Shannon looks at you, or he looks at the camera, whatever, and the cold sweat just shoots right through you. I bet it spooks you almost as much as if you saw the real-life Iceman guy, the real Richie, ready to ice somebody
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Cannes Competition Review: Inside Llewyn Davis
The frosted, muted backdrops are captured by cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel (“Amélie,” “Dark Shadows”), who steeps the film in faded bloom. It’s a gorgeous, misty visualization sure to instill nostalgia for those too young to have haunted locales like the Caffe Reggio or the Gaslight Café. As for Oscar Isaac’s performance, it’s hard not to simply babble superlatives.
Read the full article » 3 Comments »Friday Estimates
Star Trek: Into Darkness goes mildly into space; Iron Man Three drops 52%; The Great Gatsby keeps its eye on the green light.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on Movies: Star Trek Into Darkness
In many ways, it’s a relief watching this picture. After a decade of Patrick Stewart and company, and then more than a decade of franchise silence, 2009’s Star Trek ingeniously brought the original seven Enterprise crew members back together—in the process, demonstrating a flair for matching the new younger actors playing the old characters with our memories of the original crew—and, as it turns out here, some others memories as well.
Read the full article » No Comments »Cannes Competition Review: Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian
Desplechin wants us to care about Picard’s general well-being and mental health, but nevertheless found it necessary to include the dullest of banal subplots that have nothing to do with the title character’s arc, coming off as excess and general shoe leather.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Cannes Competition Review: Jeune Et Jolie
Vacth’s breakout performance demands we see more of her, and Isabelle’s unstoppable flirtation with danger is the source of continued inspiration for France’s former enfant terrible.
Read the full article » No Comments »Un Certain Regard Review: The Bling Ring
The Bling Ring is an early faux pas of the Festival; an overwhelmingly dull, why-do-we-care picture that was must have been far more fun to shoot than it is to actually consume.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Wilmington on DVDs: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
There are three Deborah Kerrs in Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger’s strange and wonderful British war epic, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and like many young male moviegoers, I fell in love with all of them the first time I saw the movie.
Read the full article » No Comments »Cannes Competition Review: Heli
Escalante turns the camera on his hometown of Guadajuato to grapple with two of Mexico’s biggest problems: cartel and drug-related violence. Taken together, the result is a rattling experience, but still a fine film.
Read the full article » No Comments »Wilmington on DVDs: Starlet; Cloud Atlas
CO-PICKS OF THE WEEK: NEW – STARLET (Three Stars) U.S.: Sean Baker, 2013 (Music Box) There’s ’at least one redeeming thing about the movies. Sometimes, they don’t really need hundreds of millions of dollars worth of superstars and special affects and expensive stuff to engage and move us. Sometimes pretty much all they have to…
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Escape, Charles Swann III, Back to 1942, Frankie Go Boom, Face 2 Face, Last Stand, Eagles, Of Two Minds, Bletchley … and so much more.
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