IF you’re searching for summer movie options midst the blockbusters SEE a film you’ve never heard of – or a film you’ve heard of, but forgotten was incredibly wonderful BECAUSE facets of light lie buried in my Cinemashrink DVD Trove of gems. Paper Moon, 1973 (USA) Director: Peter Bogdanovich Writers: Joe David Brown (story), Alvin … Continue reading
Mud, 2012 Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols Starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, and Jacob Lofland There’s only one good reason to see Mud — Matthew McConaughey’s performance as a primordial man with heart. I will talk about the film’s story, but it’s not what kept me in my seat. That … Continue reading
In The House, 2013 Director: Francois Ozon Writers: Juan Mayorga (play), Francois Ozon (screenplay) Stars: Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas Ask yourself. What’s happening In The House? That is, who really knows what’s happening In The House? “If you can think of life, for a moment, as a large house with a nursery, … Continue reading
Blancanieves, 2013 Written and Directed, Pablo Berger Director of Photography, Kiko de la Rica Starring Maribel Verdu (Encarna), Daniel Gimenez Cacho (Antonio Villalta), Angela Molia (Dona Concha), Sofia Oria (Carmencita), Macarena Garcia (Carmen) Once upon a time, in a land faraway called Spain, a girl named Carmenita after her mother, nicknamed Blancanieves by dwarves and … Continue reading
Director: David O. Russell Writers: David O. Russell, Matthew Quick (novel) Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver If, as existentialist psychologist Rollo May claims in “Cry for Myth”, the American dream of coming out number one died with The Great Gatsby, Silver Linings Playbook pitches an idea for how to make … Continue reading
Turning Point, 1977 Directed by Herbert Ross Written by Arthur Laurents Starring Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine, Mikhail Baryshinknov If you can recall a time when a turn to the right meant losing forever the left See Turning Point nail the moment when one woman’s life another woman makes Because personal choice choreographs a dance for … Continue reading
(Jane Alexander Stewart is on vacation for January. True Shields, Berkeley Lit Grad ’12 and movie buff, keeps Cinemashrink’s Oscar lights burning with a mythic overview of Zero Dark Thirty.) Zero Dark Thirty, 2013 Directed by Kathryn Bigelow Screenplay by Mark Boal Starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton Synopsis: A dramatization … Continue reading
Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012 Director: Benh Zeitlin Writers: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin Stars: Ouvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry and Levy Easterly Synopsis: In a hidden-in-full-view delta community called the Bathtub separated from civilization by a levee somewhere in the South, a six-year-old girl named Hushpuppy scrambles through swampland and piles of junk in pink … Continue reading
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 2012 Directed by John Madden Written by Ol Parker (screenplay), Deborah Moggach (novel) Starring Judi Densch, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and Dev Patel As Americans living in a youth oriented culture, we’re haunted by a fear of old age. Fear blanks our vision, restricts us to fulfilling childhood dreams and … Continue reading
Chimpanzee, 2011, narrated by Tim Allen From deep in the dense rain forest of Africa’s Ivory Coast comes a new hero brought to a theater near you by way of Disneynature’s “Planet Earth” state of the art documentary filmmaking. If you like a surprising turn of events to be a real surprise then see Chimpanzee … Continue reading
