CONGRESSIONAL TORTURE: EXAMINING THE CONTROVERSY OF “ZERO DARK THIRTY”
It’s safe to say the creators of “Zero Dark Thirty” expected to be hearing more about Oscar nominations and less about Senate panels as their movie neared wide release…
Posted on January 8, 2013 by Rick Kisonak
HITCHCOCK
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 98 minutes |
I’m not sure which is more tiresome-the series of fantasy sequences in which Hitchcock interacts with Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), the Wisconsin serial killer who provided the basis for the main character in Robert Bloch’s bestseller, or the love triangle “Hitchcock”‘s creators fabricate…
Posted on December 23, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 119 minutes |
Maybe the wheels of justice will turn a little faster now that this impassioned film has put the five back in the spotlight…
Posted on December 11, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
THE SESSIONS
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 95 minutes |
Not since De Niro have I watched an actor come out of nowhere to emerge as a dominant industry shapeshifter the way John Hawkes has done over the past decade…
Posted on November 15, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
FLIGHT
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 138 minutes |
After that spectacular opening, it isn’t just downhill; it’s variously dull, preachy, sappy and predictable…
Posted on November 10, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
CHASING MAVERICKS
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 115 minutes |
How is it possible for filmmakers as gifted as Curtis Hanson (“L.A. Confidential”) and Michael Apted (the “Up” documentary series) to combine forces and produce a movie as inconsequential as this?
Posted on October 31, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 108 minutes |
Now there’s a quaint idea: helping people rather than simply warehousing them…
Posted on October 24, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
ARGO
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 120 minutes |
The picture’s an almost one-of-a-kind mix of political thriller and Hollywood satire…
Posted on October 18, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
TAKEN 2
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 91 minutes |
The new movie hasn’t a trace of its predecessor’s psychological shadings and even the thrill of the fight scenes is gone. One gets the impression Megaton edited with a blender, chopping his footage into an incomprehensible blizzard of pistols, fists and ventilated bodies…
Posted on October 10, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
ARBITRAGE
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 107 minutes |
Jarecki gets all the details right. The universe of privilege he creates is never less than convincing. Too bad the same can’t be said for his main character’s machinations…
Posted on October 3, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
END OF WATCH
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 109 minutes |
This is easily the most immersive and brilliantly crafted cop movie since 2001’s “Training Day” (which Ayer also wrote). It may well simply be the best ever made…
Posted on September 25, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
SLEEPWALK WITH ME
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 90 minutes |
I took pleasure in watching every minute of this movie. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen…
Posted on September 16, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
LAWLESS
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 116 minutes |
All the money and moviemaking savvy in the world can’t turn ho-hum source material into riveting cinema so it should come as no surprise that “Lawless” does not rivet…
Posted on September 6, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
PREMIUM RUSH
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 91 minutes |
It’s a race-against-the-clock thriller that boasts an appealing lead, a villain who’s more fun than a barrel of Christopher Walkens, bigger laughs than you might expect and action sequences as breathtaking as they are brashly original…
Posted on August 29, 2012 by Rick Kisonak
THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 105 minutes |
The new film from writer-director Peter (“Dan in Real Life”) Hedges is 104 minutes long and doesn’t contain a single believable moment…
Posted on August 22, 2012 by Rick Kisonak