Welcome to the Movie Review and Movie Summary site by Michael The Moviegoer. Your place for movie recommendations with helpful movie reviews of the latest theater releases.
Be sure to check back often so you don’t miss a review. Movies are rated from zero stars (Embarrassing) to **** Stars (Excellent).
Movie Summary of The Ghost Writer by Michael The Moviegoer.
THE GHOST WRITER = ****
“Haunted By The Memory Of Tony Blair”
I recently read an article about the discovery of a species of frog in Australia that was believed to have become extinct more than thirty years ago. I can imagine the thrills and joys of the scientists who made this discovery. After seeing Roman Polanski’s new film “The Ghost Writer”, I too feel I’ve discovered a species long thought to have become extinct. The smart, literate, perfectly made mystery movie. The kind I thought died with Alfred Hitchcock.
What a joy to behold. A true thriller where the thrills and suspense come not from action sequences, but from story, character, plot and revelation. Few young filmmakers today would know how to do this. But Roman Polanski has been doing it this way since the 1960s. Perhaps his unfortunate situation with being a fugitive from U.S. justice is a blessing in disguise for the filmmaker. Being prevented from working in Hollywood since the 1970s has allowed Polanski to remain one of the few true artists in modern cinema. His vision is not tampered with by studio execs or focus groups. Whatever your personal feelings are about the man and his crime, nearly all of his films have been fresh, original and rewarding experiences.
“The Ghost Writer” is in the same league with Polanski’s best work going back to the 60s for “Rosemary’s Baby” to the 70s for “Chinatown” and straight through to his Best Director Oscar for 2002’s “The Pianist”. When you think about all the great lesser-known (yet star-studded) films he’s given us in between, like “Tess” (Nastassja Kinski), “Frantic” (Harrison Ford), “Bitter Moon” (Hugh Grant), “The Ninth Gate” (Johnny Depp) or “Death And The Maiden” (Sigourney Weaver), it’s easy to see that Roman Polanski has consistently delivered the goods on his own terms.
In “The Ghost Writer”, Ewan McGregor plays an author hired to help Pierce Brosnan, a former British Prime Minister, write his memoirs. McGregor is replacing another author who has mysteriously died in odd circumstances. Brosnan plays Adam Lang, but is quite obviously, and intentionally, meant to remind us of the real former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
McGregor arrives at Brosnan’s U.S.-based home during a time when allegations of war crimes surface. The mystery of how the previous ghost writer died is now fused with the mystery of the Prime Minister’s political connections to the U.S. via the CIA. Let me warn you right now, this is a movie to which you must bring your brain and leave it swtiched on. For me, that’s a big plus. Sadly, for Variety’s reviewer Derek Elley, it’s a negative. Elley criticizes the film for its “lack of any real action or thrills”. Well Derek, “The Ghost Writer” is an adaptation of a novel, not a video game.
DVD Double Feature: Rarely, if ever, do you find a strong polticial thriller involving characters from the world of book publishing. “The Ghost Writer” reminded me of one such film. 1990’s sorely underrated “The Russia House”. Sean Connery plays a British book publisher who is given a politically dangerous manuscript written by a famous Soviet scientist. Soon Connery, and Michelle Pfeiffer, are drawn into a world of international espionage. Fred Schepisi directs Tom Stoppard’s script based on the novel by John le Carre.
Michael The Moviegoer
Movie Summary of Alice In Wonderland by Michael The Moviegoer.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND = **1/2
“Is It Any Wonder?”
Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of a child’s psychotic hallucination seems like the perfect fit for director Tim Burton to do a big-screen adaptaion. [...] Continue Reading…
Michael The Moviegoer’s Oscar Predictions 2009-2010:
Almost nobody is predicting that “Inglourious Basterds” will win Best Picture. But I’m going to risk it for the following reasons.
If “Avatar” wins, it will be the first Best Picture win since “Titanic” that [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of North Face by Michael The Moviegoer.
NORTH FACE = ****
“Extreme Adventure”
“North Face”, from German writer/director Philipp Stolzl, is the best mainstream adventure film to come out of Germany since Wolfgang Petersen’s “Das Boot” in 1981. It also [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of The Girl on The Train by Michael The Moviegoer.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN = **1/2
“On The Wrong Track”
Andre Techine’s new film “The Girl On The Train” is inspired by true events. The description of these events [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Shutter Island by Michael The Moviegoer.
SHUTTER ISLAND = ***1/2
“Scorsese Flies Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”
Would you believe that a movie about an FBI agent arriving at an insane asylum to question a serial killer about a mysterious [...] Continue Reading…
Movie summary of The Wolfman by Michael The Moviegoer.
THE WOLFMAN = **1/2
“The Tail Of The Talbots”
Benicio Del Toro steps into the role of Lawrence Talbot in the remake of Universal’s 1941 horror classic “The Wolfman”. Universal nearly monopolized horror [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Valentine’s Day by Michael The Moviegoer.
VALENTINE’S DAY = **1/2
“Valentine’s Day Massacred”
Garry Marshall’s “Valentine’s Day” is the feature film equivalent of those red carpet arrivals specials that precede awards shows. The audience for this film are the [...] Continue Reading…
Movie summary of Fish Tank by Michael The Moviegoer.
FISH TANK = ***1/2
“A Great Catch”
“Fish Tank” is one of the best pieces of modern British cinema I have seen in a very long time. Only a few months ago we [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Edge Of Darkness by Michael The Moviegoer.
EDGE OF DARKNESS = **1/2
“Bring A Flashlight”
By now we all know there are two Mel Gibson’s. There’s Mel Gibson the crazed religious fanatic. And then there’s Mel Gibson the movie [...] Continue Reading…