The Cold War, which provides the historical context for Steven Spielberg's new film BRIDGE OF SPIES, is one of modern history's more stupid phases (BRIDGE OF SPIES is based on real historical events), a Thanksgiving Day parade of hypocrites high on reefer-madness paranoia about the other guy. That era gave us doctrines, an arms race, the constant threat of mutually-assured destruction and a movie ... more >
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BRIDGE OF SPIES
A Cold War spook scenario revisited
Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance and Amy Ryan
Directed by Steven Spielberg
CANNES DAY 3 – ATOM EGOYAN’S THE CAPTIVE
The search for Cassandra
Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman and Rosario Dawson
Directed by Atom Egoyan
(CONTAINS SPOILER ALERTS) Atom Egoyan’s to-catch-a-child-abductor caper “The Captive” was the third competition entry to arrive here. The motif of young ones in distress amid snow-clogged landscapes will no doubt bring to mind the director’s harrowing “The Sweet Hereafter,” which was a big prizewinner here in 1997. Sadly “Captive” does not come close to “Hereafter” in emotional force and ... more >
Win-Win
So it's not the film of the decade--so what?
Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor and Bobby Cannavale
Directed by Tom McCarthy
After the affably quirky "Station Agent" and the quietly heartbreaking "The Visitor," writer-director (and, outside his own movies, actor) Thomas McCarthy takes a mildly disappointing step backward with "Win Win," a conventional family dramedy that can best be described as cuddly. Paul Giamatti, doing his quite familiar lovable curmudgeon shtick, plays a struggling small-town lawyer and ... more >
Changeling
Trying to get past the melodrama
Angelina Jolie, Colm Feore and Amy Ryan
Directed by Clint Eastwood
With its overwrought emotions and black-and-white morality, melodrama is a form of storytelling that we believe our society has moved past. We’re too sophisticated now to toss popcorn at the stage. “Melodramatic” is almost always a negative adjective. We almost never see a melodrama that isn’t saturated with post-modern irony. So as Clint Eastwood dresses up Angelina Jolie in flapper garb, ... more >