“One for the Money” seemes to be getting treated like a red-headed stepchild by its production companies — preview screenings for critics were delayed or simply not held, and although it’s a light-hearted action comedy, it’s being released in the no-man’s-land cinematic tundra of late January. It’s a shame, because this charming little film is a lot of fun.
There’s a lot to like in Steven Soderbergh’s new film, “Haywire,” but there’s a lot that doesn’t quite come together. The director is reportedly planning to take a sabbatical once his currently in-progress films are wrapped, to get a fresh start, and it’s easy to interpret the uneven pacing and cinematography in “Haywire” as him reaching for something fresh. The film is still enjoyable, particularly during the fight scenes.
“Carnage” is being billed as “a comedy of no manners,” and that’s it in a nutshell. When one boy hits another in the face with a stick, knocking out two of his teeth, the boys’ parents meet to discuss the situation. The victim’s parents, community-building Penelope (Jodie Foster) and blue-collar Michael (John C. Reilly), invite the stick-weilder’s parents, brittle Nancy (Kate Winslet) and boorish Alan (Christoph Waltz) over for what should be an awkward but straightforward conversation. Before long, it devolves into a four-way screaming match.
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen
Rated: R for sexual content and brief language
The birth of psychoanalysis was as painful and difficult as most births seem to be — but it involved several people rather than one surrounded by midwives and caretakers. The fraught relationships between Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, and Sabina Spielrein pushed and pulled the science into the complex, widely-differing field we know today. Based on the nonfiction book by John Kerr, “A Dangerous Method” is a dramatization of the early years of psychoanalysis.
And we’re off! I’ve imported all of my movie reviews and started the long process of tagging and formatting them all properly. Soon(ish) to come: My honors and Masters theses, fiction, and columns/essays from the past. High excitement!
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciaran Hinds, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch
Rated: R for violence, some sexuality/nudity and language
It’s rare to see a film with the courage to be as slow and quiet as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is, but director Tomas Alfredson is no stranger to cinematic bravery — he directed the original Swedish “Let The Right One In,” which was at its heart a love story between an androgynous vampire and a bullied preteen. He handles this adaptation of John le Carre’s famous Cold War spy novel with a delicate touch, like a painter creating an enormous image one dot at a time.