Film/TV

671 results
Page 51
Sebald rarely mentions the Holocaust, but it's the key to his labyrinth.

Grant Gee's 'Patience (After Sebald)'

The past slowly yields its secrets: W. G. Sebald and Germany's conscience

In the 11 years since his accidental death in 2001, the German writer W. G. Sebald has been acknowledged as one of the significant literary figures of the late 20th Century. Grant Gee's Patience (After Sebald) is a fine attempt to capture the textures of Sebald's elusive but compelling prose in cinematic terms.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 7 minute read
Pitt (left), Richard Jenkins: The not-so-good life.

"Killing Them Softly'

Crime doesn't pay (and it's not much fun, either)

In Killing Them Softly, terrible people do terrible things to each other for relatively small amounts of money. Films like this could give movie crime a bad name.
Jake Blumgart

Jake Blumgart

Articles 2 minute read
Knightley as Anna: Not what Tolstoy had in mind.

"Anna Karenina' on film, again

Where have you gone, Greta Garbo? (Not to mention Leo Tolstoy)

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina has been filmed 13 times in the past century. The fussy, shallow current version, directed by Joe Wright from a Tom Stoppard script, reminds us again that great novels often make disappointing films. Maybe it's time to just read the book. Anna Karenina. A film directed by Joe Wright. For Philadelphia area showtimes, click here.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 6 minute read
Day-Lewis as Lincoln: Was it worth it?

Spielberg's 'Lincoln' and his legacy

From Civil War to Steven Spielberg: The burdens of Abraham Lincoln

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln is, as usual with this director, a tract for the times, in this case plumping for a liberal vision of America and extolling the virtues of bipartisanship and compromise. As usual, too, a hero comes riding in to save an embattled community. If only history itself were that simple.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 12 minute read
The Cullens of 'Twilight': At last, a family of young Republicans.

Romney as the "Twilight' candidate

Now it can be told: Where Romney went wrong with women

Millions of young American women who voted against Mitt Romney have nevertheless gone belly-up for a fictitious character who exemplifies Republican notions about marriage, family and rape. Who needs Karl Rove when you have a conservative vampire on your team?
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Articles 4 minute read
Hanks, Berry: Is everything connected?

The fog of "Cloud Atlas'

A mess with a message

As a novel, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is a work of sprawling, ambitious complexity linking six stories over three centuries. The film adaptation is equally sprawling and ambitious but makes little sense.
Jake Blumgart

Jake Blumgart

Articles 5 minute read

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Affleck in Khomeini's shadow: Where are you, Stanley Kubrick?

Ben Affleck's "Argo': CIA in Iran

How not to make a movie

Ben Affleck's Argo, about the real-life rescue of six U.S. embassy personnel from Iraq in 1980, begins promisingly as a satire on Hollywood filmmaking and CIA ineptitude but soon settles into Hollywood formula. Despite Affleck's liberal bona fides, it's finally a contribution to political reaction.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 7 minute read
Craig in 'Skyfall': A vulnerable Bond?

"Skyfall': The allure of James Bond

We expect you to die, Mr. Bond — but not just yet

Why do we still care about James Bond? The films are mostly disappointing, and the Ian Fleming novels are downright embarrassing. No matter: We Americans are hopelessly hooked on British suavity and probably always will be.
Jake Blumgart

Jake Blumgart

Articles 4 minute read
Better to die in combat, or in a hospital?

TV's 'Walking Dead': Why kill zombies?

Revenge of the couch potatoes

Why do some 10 million Americans watch “The Walking Dead,” the violent zombie TV series on the American Movie Classics channel? Well, what could be more satisfying than vicariously murdering death?
Rick Soisson

Rick Soisson

Articles 3 minute read
Phoenix (above) could have taught Brando about physicality. (Photo: Phil Bray.)

Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master' (2nd review)

The American Dream as nightmare

Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master hauntingly juxtaposes two stories of American madness in the aftermath of World War II, one about a berserk veteran and the other about a cult leader. With a superb Philip Seymour Hoffman, and an astonishing Joaquin Phoenix.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 7 minute read