Movie Reviews
Levity
Possibly the most misleading title of all time, unless they reissue Schindler’s List as Springtime for Hitler Part 2. Billy Bob Thornton is one of the most interesting actors working today, but this was a misbegotten project from the start. I don’t object to depressing movies, if they have something to offer just a little bit beyond ... Read more »
Letters From Iwo Jima
The verdict is in: 2006 was a good year for good movies, but not a year for great ones. We have now seen all 5 Oscar-nominated films (and I don’t think I’ve ever done that before the ceremonies), and they’re all good. But none are great. The film I enjoyed the most this year was Dreamgirls, closely followed by Read more »
The Letter
A dark night on a rubber plantation somewhere near Singapore. Inside the owner’s bungalow a shot rings out. A man staggers out onto the verandah. Bette Davis follows him, and shoots him again. He falls to the ground and Bette shoots him four more times in the back, until the revolver clicks on an empty chamber. He lifts his head and says, “Does this mean the affair is over?”
Well, ... Read more »
Lethal Weapon 2
Mel Gibson gets the shit kicked out of him for the second time in Los Angeles.
Lethal Weapon
Mel Gibson gets the shit kicked out of him in a rainstorm in Los Angeles while a bunch of cops watch.
Let the Right One In
A vampire movie! Just what the world needs now, right? This one got very good reviews so I thought we’d give it a try. We lasted 20 minutes. I have sometimes reviewed movies we didn’t finish, but it was always because the movie was either bad or it just didn’t involve me. This one is different. It is dubbed, and I can’t stand dubbed movies. It actually looked ... Read more »
Les liaisons dangereuses
Believe it or not, this story, based on a novel by Choderlos de Laclos, written in 1782, has been filmed 10 times that I know of, and we’ve now seen 2 1/3 of them:
1. 1959, by Roger Vadim, with Jeanne Moreau.
2. 1978, Kiken na kankei, in Japanese.
3. 1980, French television.
4. 1980, Nebezpecne znamosti, ...
Read more »
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
I’ve only read the first book in the series of 11, going on 13, and I enjoyed it immensely … though I have some reasonable doubts as to whether younger children should read it. It is downbeat. What I love is, it warns you right up front that it is, and even urges you to put the book down and read something more cheerful. (What better way to sell a book to a child, huh?) The movie was ... Read more »