How, oh how, does a film like American Hustle get to be an Oscar contender? Yes, it’s big and it’s brash and yes, it’s emotionally manipulative, but jeez it’s a mess of a film, and I’m not even sure it has a plot. Conman Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale, with a paunch and a comb-over) and…
Read moreThe Dark Knight Rises
I enjoyed Batman Begins but I absolutely loved Batman Returns; I still think it’s one of the best action-thrillers ever. And having seen a conversation with Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas at the Produced By Conference this June (did you know they made their first film for $6000 only in 1997….) I was…
Read more3-10 to Yuma
One of the shows I caught a couple of times in LA was “How the States got their Shapes“ on the History Channel – a light though entertaining unpacking of the expansion of America (which incidentally filmed its reenactments in Cape Town….) It’s kind of obvious, but I hadn’t thought of it before – but…
Read moreTerminator Salvation
Three movies and a tv series later – all of which, remember, were about actually stopping Skynet and the nuclear war – and the Robots of Terminator Salvation have indeed taken over the world. The grown-up John Connor, method-acted into snarly oblivion by the increasingly unpleasant Christian Bale, is now some sort of post-apocalyptic messiah,…
Read moreBatman, The Dark Knight
OK, let me start by saying; 1) Heath Ledger is as good as the hype and 2) the latest three hour Batman movie isn’t – at least not quite. Batman may have hoped to inspire goodness in mankind, but at the start of Christopher Nolan’s latest saga, it’s kind of backfired. Vigilantes and bad guys alike have…
Read moreCry the Beloved Colorado
Having watched it again last night, I’ve decided that The Prestige is a very good movie. Beginning in turn-of-the-century London, it tells of two young magicians who set out to carve their own paths to fame. Angier (Hugh Jackman) is a consummate entertainer, while the rough-edged Borden (Christian Bale with a truly horrible accent) is…
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