Review: Madonna's 'W.E.' Should Have Been Called 'Whiny Wallis'
December, 08, 2011 12:09 pm | Comments On #Madonna, Movies, reviews, W.E.
No matter her audacity, the Material Girl is only as good as her material, and Madonna has only half a movie here.
“W.E.” is the second film that the singer (and sometime actress) has directed. It’s a definite leap forward from 2008’s “Filth and Wisdom,” her mangy maiden directorial effort, but suffers from a faulty structural conceit that undercuts and fatally weakens the movie.
(“W.E.” opens tomorrow, Dec. 9, in Los Angeles for a one week, Oscar-...
Review: Even With All That Sex, 'Shame' Will Leave You Unsatisfied
December, 01, 2011 9:58 am | Comments On #Carey Mulligan, Michael Fassbender, Movies, reviews, sex, Shame, Steve McQueen
“Shame” is the movie in which Michael Fassbender gets naked and lets it all hang out.
And yes, he, ahem, measures up impressively. The movie, less so.
Co-written and directed by British artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen (“Hunger”), this is an undernourished drama likely to leave most viewers muttering a puzzled “huh?” as they exit the theater.
...
Read MoreReview: Scorsese Gets 3D Right -- It Adds Real Depth to 'Hugo'
November, 22, 2011 9:53 am | Comments On #animation, family films, hugo, Hugo Cabret, Martin Scorsese, Movies
Just when moviegoers were ready to give up on the 3D revival as a gimmick used primarily to justify higher ticket prices, master director Martin Scorsese comes along with “Hugo” to show how it should be done.
His brilliant family film employs 3D imaginatively, evocatively and judiciously, using it to add depth, both literal and metaphorical, enriching the story that he is telling.
“Hugo,” based on “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” a Caldecott Medal-winning, 2007 children’s novel by Brian Selznick, is in many ways a love letter to the movies and film preservation, the latter...
Read MoreReview: Way Too Many Happy Feet in Penguin Sequel
November, 17, 2011 10:32 am | Comments On #animation, Elijah Wood, Happy Feet 2, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews“Happy Feet Two” may be set in Antartica, but it's only a lukewarm effort.
In this 3D sequel to the Oscar-winning, 2006 animated hit, the lesson all the characters learn, no matter their species, is that only when they all work together can problems -- including a shift in the glacial landscape that threatens the penguin community’s very existence -- be overcome.
Or, as I seem to recall learning years ago while watching “Sesame Street,” the word for the day is cooperate.
"Two" introduces a new...
Read MoreReview: No, Zeus, 'The Immortals' Isn't Supposed to Be a Comedy in Leather
November, 10, 2011 10:59 am | Comments On #Henry Cavill, Immortals, Leah Rozen, Movies, Relativity, reviews, Tarsem Singh
Somewhere, the gods are laughing.
That would be the Greek gods, Zeus and his crew, who must be enjoying the folly and folderol that is “Immortals,” a silly, would-be swords-and-sandals epic set in ancient Greece.
The movie, as directed by Indian-born stylemeister Tarsem Singh (“The Cell”), is full of ravishing images and makes effective use of its 3D -- lots of swords, arrows, blood and severed body parts coming right at you -- but its characters and story are as dull as modern day particle board.
“...
Read MoreReview: 'Another Happy Day' = Another Unhappy, Weepy Weddding
November, 03, 2011 10:49 am | Comments On #Another Happy Day, Ellen Barkin, Kate Bosworth, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews
Weddings are the new funerals.
If a movie wants to really stir the pot, showing family members and friends weeping and wailing as they hash over old grievances and inflict new ones, it seems there’s no better setting than a wedding and the days leading up to it.
Consider such recent films as “Rachel’s Wedding,” “Bridesmaids” and “Melancholia” (which opens in theaters Nov. 11 but is currently available via VOD). The latest entry in the weddings as warfare category is “Another Happy Day” -- the title is obviously sardonic -- in which the bride herself has little more...
Read MoreReview: Yo-Ho-Ho, Johnny Depp Phones It In for 'Rum Diary'
October, 27, 2011 10:58 am | Comments On #Johnny Depp, Leah Rozen, Movies, reviews, Rum Diary
Besides being the familiar appellation for a potent alcoholic liquor, the word “rum” can also mean -- it’s a colloquial Briticism -- that something is a little off, a tad peculiar.
Both definitions of the word apply to “The Rum Diary,” a meandering comic drama based on an early, semi-autobiographical novel by legendary gonzo journalist and hard drinker Hunter S. Thompson.
Johnny Depp, who produced and stars in the...
Read MoreReview: 'Margin Call' a Savvy Look at Wall Street Heroes & Villains as They Crashed
October, 20, 2011 11:00 am | Comments On #Demi Moore, Margin Call, Movies, reviews, Zachary Quinto
If you want to understand why the financial crisis of 2008 happened and the causes behind it, you should watch the 2010 Oscar-winning documentary, “Inside Job."
If you want to understand what the people working at the giant Wall Street monoliths might have felt and been doing as their empires came crashing down --soon dragging the nation with them -- consider seeing “Margin Call.”
This savvy and involving indie by first-time feature director J.C. Chandor follows the fortunes of a handful of employees and...
Read MoreReview: Cage, Kidman's 'Trespass' a Sadistic Trifle
October, 13, 2011 10:32 am | Comments On #Leah Rozen, Movies, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, reviews, Trespass
Here’s hoping that stars Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage have their Best Actor Oscars tightly clutched in their hands when forced to watch “Trespass.”
They will need the golden reminder that they’ve done better work and appeared in more engaging and challenging films than this putrefying piece of genre junk.
“Trespass” is a...
Read MoreReview: Even Hugh Jackman Can't Save the Gooey, Clanky 'Real Steel'
October, 06, 2011 9:21 am | Comments On #Hugh Jackman, Movies, Real Steel, reviews
Cross watered down versions of “Rocky” with “Terminator 2” and “Transformers” and you get “Real Steel,” a clanking yarn about a man, a boy and their boxing robot.
Really? Is this what mass appeal movies have come to?
Even Fred, my 11-year old consultant on family fare who would seem to be the target audience for the film, took a pass on accompanying me to a screening. Having viewed the trailer, he pronounced, “It looks cheesy and sentimental.”
He got that right.
Which is...
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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.
