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Star Trek is back for the fans; Mud intrigues like a classic; The Iceman chills

Volkmar Richter
May 16th, 2013

The young Mr. Spock and Capt. Kirk and their early adventures in the new Star Trek movie

This is a great week for new movies. At the top is big fan favorite, but right behind are several very good films. Not enough? Check out the Cinematheque’s website. They’re showing the famous and very violent revenge trilogy from Korea consisting of Lady Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

The new movies are …

Star Trek Into Darkness: 3 stars

Mud:   4

The Iceman:  3 ½

I Declare War: 3 ½

Bitter Seeds:  4

The Reluctant Fundamentalist:  2 ½

 

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The Great Gatsby parties wild, Blackbird finds paranoia and jail, Kon-Tiki re-creates a perilous ocean voyage

Volkmar Richter
May 9th, 2013

Leonardo DiCaprio is the upward-climbing  nouveau riche The Great Gatsby

Two films this week dissect the American Dream, one in the corn fields of Iowa the other among the super rich of Long Island. But please notice a small Canadian film called Blackbird. It’s more real and relevant.

Here’s the whole list:

The Great Gatsby: 3 out of 4

Blackbird:  3 ½

Kon-Tiki:  3 ½

At Any Price:  2 ½

Peeples:  not previewed

THE GREAT GATSBY: This one should resonate with some people today. After all it’s about a love-struck man who imagines he can attract his woman with ostentatious wealth.  Bling, maybe? And she espouses a philosophy fit for a celebrity-crazy, narcissistic era: “That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

The parties are glitzy and since the time is the Roaring 20s alcohol is illegal, though as popular and widely available as marijuana today. And director Baz Luhrmann pours it out lavishly along with all that color and movement and 3-D images. So why does the movie not deliver more zing?

 

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Iron Man 3 wows; Still Mine charms and DOXA documentaries stir the pot

Volkmar Richter
May 3rd, 2013

It’s Iron Man 3 but for Robert Downey Jr. that’s four flights now as the Marvel Comics character; and his best.  

One movie tops them all this week. But if you’re not into Iron Man, there’s a small Canadian gem and a busy festival of documentaries.

Here’s the list:

Iron Man 3:  4 stars

Still Mine:  3 ½

DOXA 2013: many titles

 

IRON MAN 3: The biggest movie of the week may just be the biggest of the summer too. It is that entertaining, and not just for comic book fans. It’s for anybody who likes a fun popcorn movie now and then, enjoying huge set pieces of action and special effects with a smart story told around them. The first in the series had them all; the second didn’t and last summer’s The Avengers, which included the Iron Man character, raised the standard for this film to match. It does.

 

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Robert Redford’s Vancouver movie, Michael Bay’s Miami comedy and Terrence Malick on the wonder of love

Volkmar Richter
Apr 26th, 2013

Susan Sarandon and Robert Redford star in The Company You Keep about youthful political action that comes back to haunt

Another week with multiple new titles. There’s political resistance in two countries, a post-global warming terror, a trio of inept crooks, big stars in a low-brow comedy and more.

Here’s the list:

The Company You Keep:  3 ½ stars

Pain & Gain:  2 ½

To The Wonder:   3

The Big Wedding: 1 ½

Like Someone in Love:  4

Clandestine Childhood:  4

Leviathan:  2

The Colony 2 ½

Tai Chi Hero: not reviewed

 

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Tom Cruise upstaged by visual effects in Oblivion. Plus: My Awkward Sexual Adventure, Japanese B-movies and Projecting Change

Volkmar Richter
Apr 19th, 2013

Tom Cruise makes a rare excursion into science fiction with Oblivion

Only one big movie arrives this week. That leaves time for a series of old B-movies from Japan, a look ahead to a festival about change and a rarity from Canada: a funny sex comedy.

Here’s the menu:

Oblivion:  3 stars

My Awkward Sexual Adventure: 3 ½

Japanese B-movies:  3, 2 and 2

Projecting Change:   --

 

OBLIVION:  Dazzling visuals make this film work seeing, not the people in it or the story, which sadly powers down and turns ponderous in the middle. That’s a problem because it leaves us challenged to remain alert for the big explanations at the end. There are many.

 

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(1) COMMENTS

Ryan Gosling does tremendous job in The Place Beyond the Pines

Volkmar Richter
Apr 12th, 2013

Ryan Gosling is the chief reason why The Place Beyond the Pines gets a high rating this week

With 11 new films arriving all at once, all but one previewed, there’s lots to do and see today. Here’s the menu:

The Place Beyond the Pines:  4 stars

42:   3 

The Sapphires: 3 ½

Trance:  3 

Upstream Color:  3

Picture Day:  4

Becoming Redwood:  3

Revolution:  4 ½

Paris-Manhattan:  2 ½

Renoir:  3

Scary Movie 5: not previewed

 

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES: Ryan Gosling does such a tremendous job creating a realistic working class character in part one, that some people are disappointed by the rest of the movie. Don’t give up on it though. In part two the focus shifts to a cop, played by Bradley Cooper, also effectively, and in part three, 15 years later, it shifts to their sons. The three parts together build a thoughtful essay on how everything we do inevitably affects others and how sons carry on much like their fathers.

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The past is back in Jurassic Park 3D, Lore, Ginger and Rosa, Evil Dead and Miami Connection

Volkmar Richter
Apr 5th, 2013

The dinosaurs are back, big and scary as ever in a 20-year-old movie that stands up well.

 Five of this week’s new films look back in time. One’s a revamped re-release; one’s a re-make, one’s a lost film rediscovered and two are new but set in the past. A single film then studies life today.

Here’s the whole list:

Jurassic Park 3-D:  4 stars

Ginger & Rosa:  3

Evil Dead: 2

Lore:   4

Neighbouring Sounds:  3 ½

Miami Connection:  3

JURASSIC PARK 3-D:  Yes, it’s been 20 years already since Steven Spielberg let loose those dinosaurs. The ones Michael Crichton dreamt up in his novel and Dr. John Hammond (played as a grandfatherly tycoon by Richard Attenborough) cloned in his island theme park. They’re now in 3-D and the question is: Do they and the film hold up? Yes and yes. The story is just as compelling and the tension is just as gripping as ever and certainly welcome on the big screen. Spielberg seems to have been thinking in 3-D all along. There’s always been depth in those images and the conversion enhances the illusion. (I wouldn’t pay the double extra to see it in IMAX though).

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G.I. Joe for the boys; The Host for the girls, and Spring Breakers for party animals of all kinds, 18 years and older

Volkmar Richter
Mar 28th, 2013

Saoirse Ronan plays both a human girl and the alien intruder inside her in The Host

 

The big movie event this weekend is on your TV; the start of season three of Game of Thrones. It comes with unprecedented hype and anticipation and according to one major fan (my wife) this new episode follows nicely on the many story strands that came before. I can’t offer an overview opinion but I did enjoy several individual sequences, including a riveting one in which Charles Dance throws some stinging barbs at his disappointing son, played by Peter Dinklage. “I can’t prove you are not my son,” he grumbles, thereby showing that’s exactly what he’d love to do. Elsewhere, those three dragons are hatched but still too small to be much of a threat. Lots of scheming and backstabbing in progress though.

And these are new in theatres …

The Host:  2 ½

G.I. Joe Retaliation:  2 ½

Spring Breakers:  3

Emperor:  2

Camion (of DiverCiné 2013):  3 ½ 

Tyler Perry’s latest:  ----

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Tina Fey stars, but Lily Tomlin shines in Admission: plus reviews of Olympus Has Fallen, Italy Love it or Leave It

Volkmar Richter
Mar 22nd, 2013

Tina Fey stars, but Lily Tomlin almost steals the show in Admission.

Good things do happen. Look at Hit ‘N Strum, the local film I’ve been praising. It’s staying a 3rd week at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, practically unheard of for a small Canadian production. Trust the people, I say.  And let’s see what they do with the new ones this week. They are:

 

Admission:  3 ½ stars

Olympus Has Fallen:  2 ½

From Up on Poppy Hill:  4

Italy: Love It or Leave it:  3

Ernest & Celestine:  4 ½

Home Again:  3

The Croods:  not reviewed

 

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New movie reviews: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, The Call, Stoker, Barbara, Cloudburst, Bestiaire and No.

Volkmar Richter
Mar 14th, 2013

Steve Carell  vs Jim Carrey:  a comedy of dueling Las Vegas magicians in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

 Nice to see that the local film Hit ‘N Strum drew a full house to its first show at the 5th Avenue last Friday, and then crammed Ceili's pub up the street for an after party. Everybody remarked on how good the film looks and praised the acting, writing and directing. And best of all? Hit ‘N Strum is staying at the 5th for another week.  You should catch it.

The new arrivals this week include:

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone: 2 ½ stars

No:  4 stars

Barbara:  4

Cloudburst:  3 ½

Stoker:  3

The Call: 3

Bestiaire (by Denis Côté’):  2 ½

 

THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE: This is a good example of mainstream Hollywood movie making. You’ll laugh quite often and come out happy. And you won’t have been grossed out or offended like so many comedies do these days. It’s only show biz egos that get a beating.

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