Review: Cancer Chances = '50/50'; Movie's Prognosis Even Better
September, 29, 2011 9:23 am | Comments On #50/50, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Movies, reviews, Seth RogenAdam, a producer at an NPR radio station in Seattle, is out for a jog. While waiting for a stoplight to turn green, he reflexively reaches behind him to rub a sore muscle in his back.
But it’s not just a temporary ache. Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) soon learns that he has a rare form of cancer on his spine. His prognosis isn’t great, maybe 50/50 at best. He’ll have to undergo radiation to shrink the tumor and then a risky operation to remove it.
Adam is 27.
That’s the set up for “...
Read MoreReview: Even With Robert De Niro, 'Killer' Isn't So Elite
September, 22, 2011 10:16 am | Comments On #Jason Statham, Killer Elite, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews, robert de niroA routine action thriller which occasionally hints that at some point in its road to the big screen it may have aspired to be more, “Killer Elite” centers on Danny (Jason Statham), a highly skilled, international paid assassin.
Early in the movie, he yanks open the door of a car containing a powerbroker target and, to his horror, realizes that a young child is sitting alongside his intended quarry. This is the straw that brakes Danny. Fed up with all the occupational carnage, he quits the hired killer racket, retiring to rural Australia where he hopes to lead a quiet life.
...
Read MoreReview: Sarah Jessica Parker? I Really Don't Care How She Does It
September, 15, 2011 11:08 am | Comments On #I Don't Know How She Does It, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews, Sarah Jessica ParkerTiming is everything. Allison Pearson’s pointedly comic novel about a frazzled working mother trying to juggle home, marriage and a high-pressure job in high finance in London, “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” was published in 2002.
One worldwide economic collapse later, the movie version seems like a relic from a bygone era.
Oh, look, it’s rich people in beautifully appointed houses and they’re worried that the nanny might not arrive on time for them to make important morning meetings at work.
Boo-...
Read MoreReview: Cough and the World Coughs With You in a Taut 'Contagion'
September, 08, 2011 11:08 am | Comments On #Contagion, Jude Law, kate winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Movies, reviews, Steven Soderbergh
The world doesn’t end with a bang but rather a cough.
At least, that’s what almost happens in “Contagion,” director Steven Soderbergh’s intellectually stimulating new drama about the terrifyingly rapid spread of a lethal virus.
Before there’s even a picture on the screen, moviegoers hear a slight cough -- really more of a throat clearing -- on the soundtrack. Then Gwyneth Paltrow shows up -- she’s the one who coughed and, yikes, she does it again -- as a woman grabbing a bite at a Chicago airport on her way home to Minneapolis from a business trip to Hong Kong....
Read MoreReview: 'The Debt,' a Taut Thriller Well Worth the Wait, Ushers in Fall Season
August, 30, 2011 3:42 pm | Comments On #Helen Mirren, indies, Jessica Chastain, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews, Sam Worthington, The DebtUsually when a movie’s release is delayed by nearly a year, warning signals go off that it may be turkey time.
That’s not the case with “The Debt,” an intriguing thriller that was slated to open in late 2010 but got lost in the corporate shuffle when Disney sold Miramax. It’s finally showing up in multiplexes now, and was worth the wait.
“The Debt” is a taut spy thriller that’s an English-language remake by director...
Read MoreReview: Hallelujah for the Non-Preachy But Spiritual 'Higher Ground'
August, 25, 2011 12:24 pm | Comments On #Higher Ground, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews, Vera Famiga
Actress Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”) makes a heavenly debut as a director with “Higher Ground,” a compelling drama about a woman’s spiritual journey.
Farmiga has done that rare thing: make a movie about religion that is neither condescending, preachy nor satirical but rather looks at an evangelical Christian community with an open and a (mostly) nonjudgmental eye.
...
Read MoreReview: 'Flypaper' Just Like 'Pulp Fiction' -- But a Decade Too Late
August, 18, 2011 10:09 am | Comments On #Flypaper, Jon Lucas, Leah Rozen, Movies, Patrick Dempsey, reviews, Rob Minkoff, Scott Moore, Sundance, The Hangover
Remember all those “Pulp Fiction” wannabes a decade ago -- the ones with name ensemble casts, wacky characters, beaucoup shootouts and self-consciously colorful, rat-a-tat dialogue?
Add to the list the tardy – and not especially notable -- "Flypaper.” And if it feels a little stale, there’s a good reason: The script was written a dozen years ago by the then aspiring screenwriting team of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, a duo now red hot after the blockbuster success two years ago of “The Hangover.”
...
Read MoreReview: John Sayles Casts His War Net Too Wide in 'Amigo'
August, 18, 2011 10:04 am | Comments On #Amigo, Chris Cooper, John Sayles, Leah Rozen, Movies, review
Independent filmmaker John Sayles has always been a one-man band.
He writes, directs and edits his movies, gravitating to topics rarely taken on by Hollywood: class conflict, race and American imperialism.
Sometimes his films are a heady brew of smart writing, compelling plots and standout performances, as in “Passion Fish” and “Lone Star.” Of late, though, not so much.
His newest, “Amigo,” sounds better in theory than it plays in practice.
This disappointingly listless historical drama is set in the rural Philippines during the barely remembered Philippine-...
Read MoreFaithful to the Bestseller, 'The Help' Is a Message Movie With Sass -- and Class
August, 09, 2011 4:47 pm | Comments On #Allison Janney, Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Kathryn Stockett, Mary Steenburgen, mississippi, Movies, Octavia Spencer, Sissy Spacek, Tate Taylor, The Help, Viola Davis“The Help” needs no help from movie critics to lure the millions who’ve already read and loved the 2009 bestselling novel upon which it is based.
For those who haven’t read the book and are wondering whether to see the film let me help you: Go.
“The Help” is that rare thing, an enjoyable message movie. The message: Times have changed, and thank God for that.
“The Help” tells the story of a group of women, black and white, in a Mississippi town in the early 1960s. The white women are mostly young...
Read More'Whistleblower': 'Inspired by,' but Not Very Inspired
August, 04, 2011 9:55 am | Comments On #indies, Leah Rozen, Movies, Rachel Weisz, reviews, whistleblowerNo good deed goes unpunished. That's the hard lesson a woman cop learns in "The Whistleblower," a grim drama inspired by real life events.
The movie, with its ballsy heroine who zealously attempts to right injustices and uncover conspiracy and corruption, is in spirit if not overall achievement a throwback to films of the ‘70s and ‘80s like “Norma Rae,” “Silkwood” and “Marie.”
“Inspired by” is, of course, a catch-all phrase that appears at the beginning of movies to signal...
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Description
Leah Rozen was the film critic at People Magazine for thirteen years, until she decided that seeing six to eight movies a week was cruel and unusual punishment. She has also written for the New York Times and such still lamented though long departed publications as Spy, Manhattan Inc. and New York Woman.
