David Dobkin’s ‘The Judge’

Anger management

Robert Duvall’s stardom began when he played a Mob lawyer to perfection in The Godfather. His turn in The Judge as a magistrate who can’t escape the consequences of his own rectitude is the capstone of a splendid career.

Robert Zaller

Nov 18, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar'

Enthusiasm for the unknown

As big as Interstellar’s ideas are, the heart of the story is small and affectionate. The movie’s strengths are the characters and the journey they take together.

Ryan Dellaquila

Nov 08, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

David Ayer's 'Fury'

Fury's flaws

Filmed heroics or others’ stories did not impress my father. If he were alive today, I might have mentioned but damn sure I would not have the nerve to ask him to see David Ayer’s Fury, starring Brad Pitt and a tough bunch of supporting actors.

AJ Sabatini

Nov 08, 2014 · Articles · 6 minute read

Damien Chazelle's 'Whiplash'

Beating the drum for "Whiplash"

The parallels and similarities of the two main characters in Whiplash to the real Buddy Rich cannot be ignored.

Bruce Klauber

Nov 01, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Haunted house movies

Haunted house, haunted family

Haunted house movies rely on tired old tropes because all the movies explore the same theme: a dysfunctional family and how its secrets tear it apart.

Paula Berman

Oct 28, 2014 · Articles · 6 minute read

David Fincher's 'Gone Girl'

Gone girls vs. good girls

Don’t blame the plethora of evil women on play and movie producers — they’re only taking an accurate reading of the zeitgeist and giving audiences what they want.

Carol Rocamora

Oct 11, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Antoine Fuqua remakes 'The Equalizer'

All things being equal

The team remaking TV classic The Equalizer for the big screen simply revamped the titular character for a 21st-century audience, keeping his essence while discarding most of the original television trappings.

Mark Wolverton

Oct 07, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Showtime's 'Ray Donovan'

Parsing Ray Donovan

Ray Donovan is Nathanael West’s Day of the Locust brought up to date, an ongoing examination and indictment of the sad, ruthless culture that is today’s showbiz Los Angeles.

Bob Ingram

Oct 07, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Michaël Roskam’s ‘The Drop’

Coulda been a contender

Michaël Roskam’s The Drop, which strongly echoes On the Waterfront, has much to commend it as an evocation of the Brooklyn underworld. But it drops its own ball at the end.

Robert Zaller

Oct 06, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Revisiting 'Miami Vice'

1980s noir (in pastels)

More than just the visual style or the cool soundtrack, it's that sense of alienation, of existential heroism in the face of utter futility, that hit home back in 1984. In a way that few if any TV shows had ever done before, Miami Vice depicted a chaotic universe in which the only moral absolutes were those created and maintained by its inhabitants.

Mark Wolverton

Sep 26, 2014 · Articles · 5 minute read