Movie Reviews
The Office
BBC sitcom. DVD. The Office only lasted two seasons, which is something the British do a lot more than Americans, preferring not to prolong a funny idea until it’s all used up, stale. This one is absolutely wonderful. No laugh track, no slapstick, no huge laugh lines that real people would never say. No gags. Just the worst boss you have ever seen, a real nightmare, who only wants to be ... Read more »
Off the Map
This is a special little film made by the actor Campbell Scott, who also made Big Night. He’s definitely an actor’s director. It’s hard to describe the delights of this movie without giving too much away, and a plain description doesn’t actually sound that appealing. It’s told from the viewpoint of a 12-year-old girl living deep in the New Mexico countryside with ... Read more »
Ocean’s Twelve
The first time they stole $160,000,000. This time they have to give it back. Has some of the attractions of Eleven, but tries too hard to top itself, too many times. By the end I didn’t quite know who had done what to who. Whom. I suspect there were gaping plot holes, but wasn’t interested enough to root them out.
Ocean’s Eleven
I never saw the original, Rat Pack version of this, from 1960. This is the re-make by Steven Soderbergh, and a bit of a departure for him. It’s fairly smart, with snappy dialogue, even though you don’t believe it for a second. An amusing night at the movies.
Obsession
A nice little thriller directed in England by Edward Dmytryk during the period he was blacklisted in Hollywood by the anti-Americans on the House Un-American Activities Committee. A doctor is fed up with his wife’s affairs, and vows to kill the next man she philanders with. To that end, he makes an elaborate plan, thinking, like all megalomaniacs, that the perfect crime involves intricate ... Read more »
O’Horten
There is a genre of film that has no real plot, and enchants merely from the small and usually odd details of life. Americans are not usually very good at this sort of thing, they are usually from somewhere else. One of our favorites of this type of movie is Kitchen Stories, by the same man who directed this one. This one isn’t as funny as that one, and frankly, ... Read more »
O
A 21st century, hip-hop, basketball version of the Othello story. I love Shakespeare, and I am always interested in adaptations of his works, no matter how far-fetched. One of my favorite versions of King Lear was Ran, by Akira Kurosawa, which obviously didn’t used the original text. I also like Romeo + ... Read more »
The Number 23
The trailer for this was intriguing, so I was surprised when it came out that it was almost universally savaged by the critics. Metacritic: 24. Rotten Tomatoes: 8%. Could it really be that bad? Answer: Yes. It’s that bad. The pace is slow, the setup unbelievable, and the development tedious. The shock ending didn’t shock. I know it’s possible to make a good movie ... Read more »
Nude on the Moon
Science fiction cinema can truly be said to have come of age with this movie. Years before 2001: A Space Odyssey, while Stanley Kubrick was still wasting his time with half-hearted erotica like Lolita, the great Doris Wishman was hard at work on this little masterpiece that would revolutionize the genre, and also show a lot more tits ... Read more »
Nowhere Boy
The boy is John Lennon, and this is the story of the formation and early days of the Beatles. Or I wish it was. It does cover that, but spends entirely too much time on his relationship to his Mum who abandoned him and his Auntie Mimi, who raised him. This is interesting, though I’m often dubious about such depictions, feeling they are probably grossly simplified. The parts that fascinated ... Read more »