ph: Dario Cantellani
Saturday, January 12, 2019
First Lines: Patrick McCabe - The Butcher Boy
When I was a lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs Nugent.
The Visitor (2007)
A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
Subdued, nicely staged and excellently performed small drama centered on immigration and personal responsibility.
Maltin***1/2: "Bracingly original film...Minimalist filmmaking at its best, a combination character study - with brilliant and nuanced performances - and commentary on the perils and pleasures of life in today's American melting pot."
Friday, January 11, 2019
Playing For Keeps (2012)
A former sports star who's fallen on hard times starts coaching his son's soccer team as a way to get his life together. His attempts to become an adult are met with challenges from the attractive soccer moms who pursue him at every turn.
Lots of star talent wasted in this minor, mostly uninteresting dramedy about (believe it or not) the marital/parental aches of a has-been football star.
Maltin*1/2: "Innocuous romantic trifle populated by attractive star; easy to take and just as easy to forget."
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
The Intern (2015)
A seventy-year-old widower has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be; seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site.
Likable comedy with a great premise is quite amusing and Robert De Niro delivers one of his best performances in recent years (although his character is almost too good to be true); However, as so often in this genre, the movie does drift into sentimentality towards the end.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat.
A sequel omitting everything that made the original so entertaining: humor, irony, panache; the star cast are mainly stick figures in a CGI game with a ridiculous plot.
