Movie Reviews
Titles starting with A
Autumn Spring
Totally charming comedy about an old man who is refusing to grow stodgy as he ages. Highly recommended.
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I know this will sound like exaggeration, but this is simply the most stunning movie made since Thomas Edison invented the flickers. Previously, only two movies have really expanded my horizons, shown me something I had envisioned in my head, but never seen: 2001, and the first Read more »
The Avengers
This gets so, so tiresome. The reviews were through the roof, and several people I respect told me it was pretty good. So once more I violated my pledge to not see a comic book superhero movie, and the same damn thing happened: I was bored.
It was touted as having some witty dialogue, and some characters with a few traits that are recognizably human. Yes, there were a lot of ... Read more »
Avengers: Age of Ultron
(NOTE: I was recently hospitalized for four days. So I did what I did the last time I was there: I watched movies from the small selection they offered. This was an opportunity to take in some that I normally would have passed on. And just as last time, I found they were all movies I was wise to have skipped. At least they didn’t make me any sicker. This is one.)
I have sworn off ... Read more »
Aventure Malgache
The second of Hitchcock’s propaganda films, and even more puzzling than the first one. The title translates as Malagasy Adventure, and Malagasy is Madagascar, which was a French colony when the war broke out. When Hitler overran France, the colonies had to decide whether to go with the traitors in the Vichy government, or the Gaullist government in exile. The ... Read more »
The Aviator
I loved every minute of this long (almost 3 hour) movie. First, there are the airplanes. Scorcese re-creates the filming of Hell’s Angels, a movie that took about three years to make, including a re-shooting of all the dialogue scenes because of the ... Read more »
L’Avventura
I’m still debating whether or not to award the Italian version of our coveted “Gerry Award” to this film. Mostly it’s because I’m not sure whether to call it the Geraldo or the Guido. It’s also because Lee liked it better than I did, and I don’t know if she has a veto. We give it out to the most boring, pointless, and artsy-fartsy movies of all ... Read more »
Away From Her
A woman has Alzheimer’s, is gradually losing it. She agrees with her husband that she needs to be in a nursing home, whose policy is that she get no visitors for 30 days. When he returns, she no longer remembers him, and has formed an attachment with a brain-damaged man.
The Awful Truth
Guest reviewer for The Alpo Movie Review, by Rin-Tin-Tin VIII.
Here’s a movie that makes a few more strides in the acceptance of canine-Americans into the film industry, but is still plagued by the usual shortcomings. It stars Skippy, the famous wire-haired terrier. Skippy’s humans are Henry and Gale East and the Weatherwax Brothers, and he first appeared ... Read more »
A Man and a Woman
Here is one of the fairly small number of “important” films that, for no real good reason, I just never got around to seeing. I think part of me thought, “Well, it’s a love story about a racing car driver. How special could it be?” The answer is, very special indeed. It was a groundbreaking film in terms of technique, and it holds up very well. There is a lot of use of hand-held cameras. ... Read more »