— by RON WILKINSON — Those who have read any of Thomas Pynchon’s intractable tails must have been amazed that Paul Thomas Anderson would take on the hazardous task of transforming his 2009 novel into a movie. Continuing Pynchon’s ongoing war against the establishment, the “Inherent Vice” screenplay (also by Anderson) features private eye Doc […][...]
Review: The Imitation Game
— by RON WILKINSON — Benedict Cumberbatch pounds out a fantastic performance as one of the greatest nerds of all time, Alan Turing, the inventor of one of the first digital computers. Although the computer itself, built in the legendary Bletchley Park encryption think tank, threatens to steal the show, Cumberbatch (Guillam in “Tinker, Tailor, […][...]
Review: Zero Motivation
— by RON WILKINSON — Talya Larvie’s military dramedy “Zero Motivation” is fresh, untamed and funny. This is amazing, considering it shreds one of the top military organizations in the world. Featuring the women of mandatory conscription, the setting is a desolate Israeli military outpost. Critical, no doubt, to security, the female draftees treat their […][...]
Review: The Homesman
— by RON WILKINSON — The opening scenes of “The Homesman” are as bleak as death itself. Parched plains, patched together clapboard houses, poverty so deep it rises up to greet you at the front door, and wind that never, ever, lets up. Tommy Lee Jones’ second feature film shows an America that promised its […][...]
Review: Bad Hair
— by RON WILKINSON — Nine-year-old Junior is on the war path with his mother. What else is new? The ageless story of kid versus parent is told again, this time in the tough streets of the projects in Caracas, Venezuela. His mother, Marta, has lost her job and is in the process of giving […][...]
Eddie Redmayne receives The Maserati Award
Last night, at the 32nd Turin Film Festival, British actor Eddie Redmayne was awarded the exclusive Maserati Award. The House of the Trident chose to award a young talent with the commemorative statue of the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, the precious monument that inspired Mario Maserati to create the famous logo in the form […][...]
Review: Camp X-Ray
— by RON WILKINSON — Peter Sattler’s directorial debut is as bare and exposed as a prisoner in a cell. A stripped down film about warehousing human beings and waiting for the next step. The next step for the inmate is release, and it may come sooner than the next step for the jailer. In […][...]
Review: Mending the Line
— by BEV QUESTAD — This is the perfect Veteran Day’s film. It is the story of a WWII vet named Frank Moore and his reconciliation with the unspeakable inhumanity he suffered in war interwoven with his passion for a fishing rod, nature and a beautiful wife. Miraculously, there is a saved letter he wrote […][...]
Review: Diplomacy
— by RON WILKINSON — After watching Volker Schlöndorff’s (Oscar-winning German director of “The Tin Drum”) touching, scary and occasionally funny rendition of an imaginary meeting that decided the fate of Paris, you may never watch “My Dinner With Andre” in the same way again. Meeting in the last hours before the Allies’ WWII liberation […][...]
Review: Before I Go To Sleep
— by RON WILKINSON — Nicole Kidman gives it her best shot but there is simply not enough going on in Rowan Joffe’s psychological drama to make it work. The lack of plot is aggravated by the bizarre use of jarring loud noises and the guessing games the audience goes through trying to understand the […][...]