“No great shakes as a documentary but a hugely entertaining repository of zingers, Compared To What? follows the indefatigable congressman during the waning days of his forty-year political career. Part hagiography, part hangout-movie, how you’ll feel about the picture will presumably depend on how you feel about Barney Frank.” – Movie Mezzanine, 03/02/2015
“Focus is two movies for the price of one. You get a sparkling, sexy comedy and its lackluster, dispiriting sequel, both in the same sitting. I enjoyed the first half of this picture as much as anything I’ve seen in a while. Alas, then the film jumps ahead three years, and that’s when Romancing the Stone becomes The Jewel of the Nile.” – Movie Mezzanine, 02/27/2015
MAPS TO THE STARS * 1 / 2
Starring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Olivia Williams and Robert Pattinson. Screeenplay by Bruce Wagner. Directed by David Cronenberg.
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY * *
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle, Eloise Mumford and Marcia Gay Harden. Screenplay by Kelly Marcel. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
JUPITER ASCENDING * * *
Starring Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Written and directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski.
“A micro-budget labor of love for Pacino and his pals, the film was shot incrementally in twenty days over the course of three months, mostly in the director’s own house. Screenwriters Buck Henry and Michel Zebede have stripped away the ickier elements of Philip Roth’s dirty-old-man fantasy while ramping up the droll, dark comedy of indignity at its core.” – Movie Mezzanine, 02/05/2015
AMERICAN SNIPER * * *
Starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Keir O’Donnell, Luke Grimes and Sammy Sheik. Screenplay by Jason Hall. Directed by Clint Eastwood.
BLACKHAT * * * 1 / 2
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Wei Tang, Leehom Wang, Holt McCallany and Viola Davis. Screenplay by Morgan Davis Foehl. Directed by Michael Mann.
“I’m not sure I’d ever want to sit through one of Andrews’ movies — though it uncharitably crossed my mind more than once that they look roughly as professional as Joe Swanberg pictures and are probably way more interesting — but watching him make one is an unexpectedly lovely experience. There’s a real generosity of spirit behind these scenes.” – Movie Mezzanine, 01/15/2015
“A shitty part of life is that we all eventually learn to accept that our bodies will someday betray us, but the mind is a different matter. Losing physical ability is sadly inevitable, losing comprehension is the stuff of nightmares. Moore does an expectedly outstanding job conveying Alice’s slow drift. Confusion gives way to helplessness, and then terrible fear.” – Movie Mezzanine, 01/15/2015
SPLICED PERSONALITY 