"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

Dec 15, 2012 · Articles · 2 minute read

"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

Dec 09, 2012 · Articles · 6 minute read

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

Nov 27, 2012 · Articles · 12 minute read

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

Nov 25, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

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

Nov 20, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

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

Nov 20, 2012 · Articles · 7 minute read

"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

Nov 19, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

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

Oct 23, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

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

Oct 16, 2012 · Articles · 7 minute read

Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master' (1st review)

Is this Citizen Kane, or The Lost Weekend?

Contrary to its misleading title, The Master isn't about a false messiah but about one of his pathetic acolytes. Director Paul Thomas Anderson seems not to understand that sumptuous photography and penetrating acting are no substitute for story.

Susan Beth Lehman

Oct 06, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read