Margin Call

Oh, no, not another vampire movie! Yes, I’m afraid so, but there’s a big difference in this one. It’s not those stupid Northwest vamps from Twilight, or the silly Transylvanian breed in their funny capes. No, these are truly scary vampires. By day they roost in their glass towers above Wall Street, lords of all they survey, and by night they swoop down to suck ... Read more »

Margot at the Wedding

Roger Ebert said this in his review: “The characters are into emotional laceration for fun. They are verbal, articulate, self-absorbed, selfish, egotistical, cold and fascinating.” Hit the nail on the head, Rog, except the fascinating part. He liked it; I didn’t. Spending 90 minutes with these people was quite an ordeal. Spending the whole ghastly weekend with ... Read more »

Maria Full of Grace

An extremely good movie about the drug trade, and its human cost. I’m not talking about the rich and bored who snort coke, or the poor and hopeless who smoke crack. It’s about the impossibly cruel people who run the trade, and the people who risk their lives to get the stuff to a hungry America. As long as we continue this asinine and no-win “War on Drugs,” people like Maria will pay the ... Read more »

Marie Antoinette

Today on the radio we heard a story about the Ferrari motorcar company. One popular model sells for $200,000 … but you have to wait two years to get one. That is frightening enough in itself, that there are that many people ready to spend that kind of money for what is really just a toy car, of no practical use whatsoever. But the capper was that you could buy one on eBay or suchlike ... Read more »

Marlowe

First, get it out of your head that the character we see here has anything to do with the Philip Marlowe from the books by Raymond Chandler. That Marlowe was much darker, more cynical, and a bit of an ascetic. His idea of a good time was to sit in his shitty little office and re-play classic chess games. No, what James Garner plays here is a practice session for Jim Rockford, five years ... Read more »

Marooned

There’s a good reason why Star Wars is more popular than movies about real space travel. Most of the real stuff is incredibly boring. I’m sorry, I’m as big a space buff as anyone on the planet, but I can’t watched four hours of an ISS astronaut in a spacesuit tightening bolts on a thingamabob, nor even astronauts floating around inside. Ground control is even ... Read more »

Marooned in Iraq

Probably the only Kurdish film I have ever seen, and a real winner. Some cultures are so foreign, so alien, they might as well be from Mars for all I know about them. These people have nothing, they have been torn by war forever … and yet it is almost a comedy. Sure, there are horrors, and a sad ending, but it still manages to be upbeat. Plot: an old musician enlists his sons to ... Read more »

The Marriage of Maria Braun

This was a huge disappointment, and I can’t say why without issuing this

SPOILER WARNING!

Maria gets married as Germany is falling apart in 1945. Her husband leaves at once for the front, where he is presumed dead. Maria looks for him and never believes he’s dead, but has to get on with her life. She becomes a bar girl, picking up ... Read more »

Marriage Story

One of those films that actors love to make, but I’m afraid don’t appeal all that much to me. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver act up a storm, but after all it’s the story of a divorce, and there is nothing much for me to like here. I saw it just a few months ago when it appeared on Netflix, and I can remember very little about it. I guess there’s not much more to say. If this is your ... Read more »