movie Glossary
Locked in Low
A good sprinter can run the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds. That's 20 miles an hour. Yet overweight, out-of-shape heroes can run down the center of the road when fleeing bad guys' cars, and the cars never catch them. That's because the cars are Locked In Low and can't do more than 10 miles an hour. DON HOWARD, San Jose, CA
more »
|
 |
|
 
Oz the Great and Powerful (PG)
by Richard Roeper
You can be a good witch or a bad witch or even a little of both, but a bland witch?
Then we'll have to talk.
Some of the surprises in "Oz the Great and Powerful," the much-anticipated "Wizard of Oz" origins movie, are delightful. Others, however, sink the movie just below the point of recommendation, with the primary drawback falling on the lovely shoulders of Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis, as early versions of Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, respectively.
Barbara (PG-13)
by Sheila O'MalleyThe woman sits in a park, legs crossed, smoking, relaxed. Two men watch her from a window above the park, and they discuss her, looking down on her. "If she were six, you would say she was sulky," one of the men says. "Since her incarceration, her group of friends has been destroyed." She is meeting the two men, and one says, "She won't come in a moment before it's time." It is an eloquent exchange, and even more eloquently filmed, the woman seen in long shot, from above. She knows she is being watched. Her "relaxation," then, is an act of public theatre.
The Condemned (Unrated)
by Charlie SchmidlinIn "The Condemned," the director Roberto Busó-García frames a haunted house tale in the remote town of Rosales, Puerto Rico. The film charts the return of a wealthy family's patriarch, Dr. Puttnam (Axel Anderson), to face the locals whom, decades before, he tricked into receiving radiation treatments for cancer research. Dying of old age and determined to takes his secrets to the grave, the American doctor is cared for by his feisty daughter, Ana (Cristina Rodlo). However, Ana is left to deal with the victims of her father's experiments — both alive and deceased.
|
|
When I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I must have driven past the little park a few times. Hyde Park, where the University is located, is a neighborhood including fraternity houses, foundation headquarters, school department offices, even President Obama's family home. Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House can be found there, and Henry Moore's chilling death's-sculpture marking the place where scientists first split the atom.
In the dark hours of Thursday morning, February 28, I awoke to find CNN featuring a continuous shot of a helicopter. The network cut between a close-up and a distant dot. It was Benedict, flying from the Vatican City. This was extraordinary attention for an ordinary cardinal, because as Benedict told the throng awaiting him, "I am no longer Pope." I am not a scholar of Catholic history, but I believe we were witnessing the first time the Papal throne was vacant while an elected Pope was alive.
Searching for mention of "Amore" on our 2012 PBS program "Ebert Presents at the Movies," I was pointed by Google to one of Chaz's video reports. I remembered liking her video at the time, started noodling through all of her reports, and found myself thinking of my wife's emerging role as a movie critic. For more than 20 years, she's attended virtually every film festival and press screening with me, debated the films, made friends with the people.
• Jana J. Monji in Los AngelesWith the passing of Andy Williams, I keep imagining his golden tenor singing Henry Mancini's "Moon River." The song talks about crossing life in style. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is all about fashionable cafe society and love; in an adult fairy tale, you can have both even if you are two drifters.
More than anyone else, Jeannette Hereniko introduced me to the concept of the cinema of the Pacific Rim. I knew Ronald Richie through his books, and in particular learned from him about Ozu. More than anyone else, he was responsible for the introduction of Japanese films to the West, Particularly when he brought a group of great titles to the Venice Film Festival, circa 1960. He also wrote fiction and on Japanese society, and a wonderful autobiographical travel book, The Inland Sea, about a young GI who returned to Japan after WWII and stayed, inspired a film. Here is Jeanette's appreciation of Donald, who died on Feb. 19. -- RE
thumbs
Linked here are reviews in recent months for which I wrote either 4 star or 3.5 star reviews. What does Two Thumbs Up mean in this context? It signifies that I believe these films are worth going out of your way to see, or that you might rent them, add them to your Netflix, Blockbuster or TiVo queues, or if they are telecast record them.
Gathered here in one convenient place are my recent reviews that awarded films Zero Stars, One-half Star, One Star, and One-and-a-half Stars. These are, generally speaking to be avoided. Sometimes I hear from readers who confess they are in the mood to watch a really bad movie on some form of video. If you are sincere, be sure to know what you're getting: A really bad movie.
in theaters
on dvd
ebert's dvd commentaries
|
|
|
RSS Headlines
