Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3   Director Steven Spielberg has often been accused of making “emotionally manipulative” films, to which he responds (to paraphrase) – that’s the whole point of making a movie.  That said, the relevant question behind a very legitimate criticism of Spielberg’s films is not whether a film is manipulative, but how the filmmaker chooses ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  4 Based on the progression from Reservoir Dogs (1993) to Pulp Fiction (1994) to Jackie Brown (1997), some of us had hoped that the last decade would bring an evolution in the films of Quentin Tarantino.  But unfortunately, the downward spiral that began with the Kill Bill series (2003-2004) continues with Django Unchained.  The juicy fruit ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale 1 to 10?):  3   For his fourth film as writer and director, This Is 40, Judd Apatow plucks two of the more memorable characters from his second film Knocked Up (2007) – married couple Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann, Apatow’s wife) – who are both turning 40.  Things could be much better, financially and otherwise.  ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  3   For the uninitiated, Les Misérables is set during the 18-year period following the French Revolution.  There is good and evil, but not a whole lot in between.  People fall in love at first sight and die by simply losing the will to live.  All the Big Themes pop up – crime and punishment, mercy, ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this review on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3  Biopics are dramatizations of real life figures, not documentaries.  Understanding the artistic opportunities offered by the biopic, some of the best fillmmakers take chances by trying to capture the truth behind the character (e.g., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)).  But moviegoers tend to be unforgiving when a biopic strays too far from the more conventional “just ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  4 From the very first shot to the very last line of Killing Them Softly, writer/director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)) paints a very bleak picture of the United States of America.  “Bleak” might be too weak a word.  “Cynicism” might be a ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilerly is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  3  Will they or won’t they?  Yes, this is one of those movies.  But is Silver Linings Playbook a good one of those movies? The film opens with Paul (Bradley Cooper) just being released from an eight-month stay at a Baltimore mental hospital into the custody of his parents (Robert DeNiro and ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 3  Having seen about a dozen 007 films, mostly in my childhood, I am not what you would call a big fan the franchise.  So I was initially skeptical when I heard about the “reboot” back in 2006.  (At that time, director Martin Campbell’s most notable work was another forgettable entry ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilerly is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?)  3  “Middlebrow” is typically used as a derogatory term by the snobby to describe an attempt to create something that is both broadly accessible and worthy of artistic merit.  Personally, I do not think there is a damn thing wrong with straddling this illusory fence – particularly in the case of Cloud ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3   Quentin Tarantino and Charlie Kaufman agree to write and direct a film together, but after a prolonged production, Tarantino manages to get final cut … with a bullet to Kaufman’s head.  That would be my pitch for writer/director Martin McDonagh’s latest film, Seven Psychopaths.  You say you don’t like film snobs who use film references like their own ninth part ... Read More »