In “Darkest hour,” what Gary Oldman’s Churchill has to contend with in a time of war reminded me of what a newspaper editor does: tense negotiations, the reworking of sentences, an overarching need to get the message out, loudly and clearly. The real context of the story, the history, is, evidently, a very different one from this. In the early forties European countries were falling like dominoes ... more >
ARCHIVES
Gary Oldman is awesome in “Darkest Hour”
Rises to the occasion
Gary Oldman, Lily James and Kristin Scott Thomas
Directed by Joe Wright
ANNA KARENINA
It's not quite a movie, but it's not quite a play either
Keira Knightley and Jude Law
Directed by Joe Wright
Keira Knightley and filmmaker Joe Wright ("Atonement") team up again to cover a celebrated work of European literature, this time focusing on forbidden love among the Russian aristocracy described by Tolstoy. The latter has directed a gorgeous-looking, if overindulgent, film, although nary a soul is to be found in it. Knightley, as the title character, wallows in her loveless marriage to ... more >
The soloist
When two great actors meet
Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr. and Catherine Keener
Directed by Joe Wright
“The Soloist” is the true-life story of LA Times reporter Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) who discovers and helps a schizophrenic and former Julliard cellist (Jamie Foxx) living on the streets of the City of Angels. The film, directed by Joe Wright (“Atonement”), features a lead character tormented by multiple voices in his head. Likewise, we can hear the multiple voices going on in the film’s ... more >
Atonement
When lies torment and destroy us.
Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn and Kiera Knightley
Directed by Joe Wright
Film critics are a notoriously grumpy lot, maybe because, unlike the general public, they sometimes have to see films they wouldn’t choose to. Thus, jaded and difficult to please, a number of them have called Atonement a Merchant-Ivory type production—albeit with more soul—made with an eye on Academy awards. Where some have praised it, others have found it as flawed as all screen adaptations of ... more >