George Clooney, sole American in the cast, has been enrolled to glamorize further the most glamorous profession, to go by Hollywood, in the world today: the high-end assassin. (Vampire is not a profession.) Director Anton Corbijn, a former music-video guy, places him in existential exile amid the Medieval townscapes and …
Based on the best-selling book about the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Directed by George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner.
Based on the best-selling book about the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Directed by George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner.
The Coen brothers revisit their favored stupidity theme: Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski (that one above all), O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the secondhand Ladykillers, at least the Llewellyn Moss protagonist in No Country for Old Men. Back to the well once more. The placement of this …
An adaptation of the "unauthorized autobiography" of Chuck Barris, TV game-show producer -- The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, et al. -- and moonlighting CIA hit man. Says him. We meet the protagonist (played with maximum smarm and supreme sleaze by Sam Rockwell) holed up, Manson-haired, naked, close to catatonic, …
Alexander Payne’s film is on Hawaiian time and floats well below his Sideways. George Clooney is the rich Honolulu lawyer whose faithless wife has crashed into a coma. He is also trustee for a huge patch of Kauai that excites his greedy relatives and his wife’s lover. His trip with …
George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, P Diddy and other celebrities who have made the move to tequila would be wise to check out what their high-profile brands have done to put a drain on family-owned distilleries in the Jalisco Highlands. The once prosperous Two Seasons factory has reached a painful crossroad. …
George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, P Diddy and other celebrities who have made the move to tequila would be wise to check out what their high-profile brands have done to put a drain on family-owned distilleries in the Jalisco Highlands. The once prosperous Two Seasons factory has reached a painful crossroad. …
Wes Anderson’s wised-up children’s film, a labor-intensive stop-motion animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl animal tale (reportedly he never visited the London set, but directed from Paris by E-mail) about a vulpine sophisticate who moves up in the world — out of a hole and into a tree — but …
An early screenplay of Quentin Tarantino's, disinterred and refurbished for his friend and colleague Robert Rodriguez to direct, and for himself to act in (amateurishly, as always, but with thoroughly aroused senses of fun and enthusiasm). The pre-credits scene exhibits some genuine movie sense. An extended bit of fat-chewing between …
A nostalgist's film noir, one more black-and-white postwar thriller, over a half-century tardy in its arrival, for the buff who has run through Crossfire, Cornered, Notorious, The Stranger, Berlin Express, and Captain Carey, U.S.A., among numerous others, and who still has a hunger. Reassuring archaisms, such as the 4:3 aspect …
Unabashed hero worship of the "crusading" CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, directed and co-written by George Clooney, who also plays Murrow's television producer, Fred Friendly. (In the lead role, David Strathairn has Murrow's somber countenance, speaks with his cadence, and goes through a full carton of his coffin nails.) Framed …
An illustrated existential crisis. Or, a survival story in which nearly every exterior event carries interior significance. Either way, it's gripping. The story is simple: an astronaut (a smooth-faced Sandra Bullock), cut loose from her spiritual moorings by a freak accident, is cut loose from her physical moorings by another …
Remember movies? The Coen brothers do. Westerns, romances, musicals, dance extravaganzas — the works. (All of which are on gorgeous, indulgent display here.) Millions of people used to look to them for — in the words of Capitol Pictures’ Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) — “information, uplift, and yes, entertainment.” Kind …
Before today, this sheltered Yiddisher kop cinephile from Chicago’s far north side didn’t know a Hesburgh from a Hesher. Thank you, Father, for every now and then favoring us with an enlightening, meticulously deliberated (and well-tooled) documentary. Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when the biggest …