Movie Reviews
Titus
Though it has a few defenders (who have abstract theories regarding violence as symbolism) and not a few dissenters who are sure Shakespeare didn’t write it, {{Titus Andronicus{{ is widely held to be the Bard’s worst play, the only rivals to that dubious honor being King John and Timon of Athens. To me, it’s a toss-up between Titus and ... Read more »
The Titfield Thunderbolt
There seem to be two sorts of British comedy, things they do better than anyone else. One is the wild, over-the-top insanity best expressed by Monty Python, the sort that grew out of the silly British institution of “panto.” The other is the gentle, understated humour of the Ealing comedies of the 1950s, of which this is a good example. It is the first one to be made in colour, and it was ... Read more »
Tiptoes
A man comes from a family of dwarves, or little people, and he’s the only normal-sized one. He conceals this from his girlfriend, who becomes pregnant, and may be carrying a dwarf. Sounds interesting and well-intentioned, but I thought this was a disaster. The dialogue is terrible. The incidents are unbelievable. For some reason, Gary Oldman, who likes to play grotesques (he was the man ... Read more »
Tiny Furniture
A Film Festival movie, the sort that never gets a real theatrical release. It was written and directed by its young star, Lena Dunham, with her real mother and real sister as her mother and sister, filmed in her mother’s real, huge, trendy, all-white TriBeCa apartment/studio for very little money. I applaud the resourcefulness it must have taken, and the bravery to show so much of what ... Read more »
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
In my opinion, so-called “intelligence” work is the dirtiest job there is. It is, in and of itself, morally repugnant. It doesn’t matter which side you are on, it doesn’t matter if your cause is just. (Remember, people on both sides believe that to be true.) The coin of the realm is deception and betrayal. It is done by two kinds of people: shabby little men and women in offices, nothing ... Read more »
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Once more one of my major cinematic theorems is proven: It is almost always a mistake to remake a really, really good film. (Coen Brothers exception: True Grit, the only instance I can think of where a classic was improved.) (Coen Brothers confirmation: The Ladykillers, easily their worst movie.) Those who ... Read more »
The Time Traveler’s
I loved the book, and I thought the movie did a decent though not brilliant job of bringing it to the screen. I can’t understand why so many critics were so harsh. Here was a science fiction love story that had a fairly new idea: a man who was apt to simply vanish into another time, without warning, leaving his clothes behind. Think about the difficulties inherent in that statement. He ... Read more »
Time of the Wolf
Another pretentious piece of crap that a lot of critics seemed to think was deep. About half of it was too dark to see, and when the lights went on, I didn’t care. Some sort of post-apocalyptic fol-de-rol was going on, the water was bad, nobody had any food. The people start behaving primitively. Hoo-hah. What an insight! What does it take to make some people see that … there’s ... Read more »
Tightrope
Clint Eastwood is a New Orleans cop, about as different from Dirty Harry as he could be. For one thing, he’s got custody of two daughters (one of them Alison Eastwood, his real-life daughter) and is a sucker for stray dogs, having four always underfoot and in bed with him. For another, he is obsessed with the prostitutes in the French Quarter, and likes to handcuff them. Not what you’d ... Read more »
Thunderheart
This is a competent whodunit, and it’s directed by Michael Apted, a director we admire for his Up Series, but it didn’t quite work for me. It takes place on the Sioux rez in the 1970s, when there was a lot of turmoil with militant Indians and the FBI. Two agents were shot and killed, and Leonard Peltier went to prison for it, a case that is ... Read more »