Movie Summary of Taking Woodstock by Michael the Moviegoer.
TAKING WOODSTOCK = ***1/2
“Peace, Love And Chocolate Milk”
I’ve not yet read a single good review of Ang Lee’s new film “Taking Woodstock”. So I’ll write one. For starters, the bad buzz had significantly lowered my expectations. Maybe that’s why I was so pleasantly surprised at how utterly [...]
Movie summary of Inglourious Basterds by Michael the Moviegoer
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS = ****
“Quentin Tarantino’s Masterpiece”
“Inglorious Basterds” just might be Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece. It’s a delirious re-imagining of World War II. A hypothetical “what if” story. Where last year’s “Valkyrie” was based in fact, Tarantino’s film is based in fantasy. It’s a visualization of a conversation most [...]
Movie summary of District 9 by Michael the Moviegoer.
DISTRICT 9 = ***
“Alien Discrimination”
On paper, “District 9” must read like the most intelligent science-fiction film to come along in decades. And it’s all there on the screen as well. A superbly performed action/drama about an alien spaceship that becomes stranded over Johannesburg, South Africa. The alien [...]
Movie summary of Cold Souls by Michael the Moviegoer.
COLD SOULS = ***
“Being Paul Giamatti”
Paul Giamatti plays a version of himself in the clever, darkly hilarious sci-fi comedy “Cold Souls” from director Sophie Barthes. (But I use only the loosest definition of sci-fi, much like Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” decades ago.)
During rehearsals for Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya”, the [...]
Movie summary of The Burning Plain by Michael The Moviegoer
THE BURNING PLAIN = **
“Plain Is The Word”
I really wanted to love this film. It’s the directorial debut of Guillermo Arriaga, writer of three great films, “Babel,” “21 Grams” and “Amores Perros”. Each of those films had complicated inter-connected storylines presented in a fragmented non-linear fashion [...]
Movie summary of Flame & Citron by Michael The Moviegoer.
FLAME & CITRON = ***1/2
“The Danes Also Hated The Nazis”
For the past half-century filmmakers from many countries have been telling the stories of World War II. In landmark films such as “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist”. In little-known gems such as Germany’s “Rosenstrasse” and The Czech [...]
Movie summary of Julie & Julia by Michael the Moviegoer.
JULIE & JULIA = ***
“Two Many Chefs…”
Meryl Streep gives a deliciously inspired performance as Julia Child, TV’s wacky French Chef and author of “Mastering The Art Of French Cooking”. Streep is such a great actress that one might assume she upstages the other actors she performs [...]
Movie Summary of “In The Loop” by Michael The Moviegoer.
IN THE LOOP = ***1/2
“Complex Superiority”
The new political satire “In The Loop” is an oddly successful mash-up of “The Office” and “The West Wing”. It’s a searingly funny portrait of UK-US politics making writer/director Armando Iannucci a sort of British version of Aaron Sorkin.
Though the cast [...]
Movie summary of 500 Days Of Summer by Michael The Moviegoer.
500 DAYS OF SUMMER = ***1/2
“Calculating A New Formula For Romantic Comedies”
The narrator cautions us that this is NOT a love story. And indeed it’s not. An enchanting Zooey Deschanel plays a girl named Summer (hence the title, and the set-up to one of the [...]
Movie Summary of Local Color by Michael the Moviegoer.
LOCAL COLOR = ***
“Armin Mueller-Stahl Shows His True Colors”
George Gallo’s autobiographical “Local Color” is the ultimate leading-man showcase for veteran German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl. Well recognized as a character actor by nearly anyone who goes to the movies, this movie is all about his performance as a [...]