C+ Animated family-oriented fantasy crime thriller Written by Alain Gagnol Directed by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli Eleven-year-old Leo is very sick. He's in the hospital, will be for months, and he may not survive. But he has a superpower. His spirit can leave his body, fly through walls, and see and hear everything around … Continue reading The Phantom Boy doesn’t quite come together
Category: Current films
Magician: The life and times of Citizen Welles
B+ Documentary Directed by Chuck Workman Every cinephile has to contemplate the strange phenomenon named Orson Welles. He had conquered radio and the New York stage, and had signed a Hollywood movie contract that turned established directors green with envy, before he turned 25. His first film, Citizen Kane, has been called the "greatest film … Continue reading Magician: The life and times of Citizen Welles
My Thoughts on The Imitation Game
The Imitation Game takes considerable liberties in dramatizing the life of Alan Turing. But the result is an effective, entertaining, and sympathetic tragedy about a man who played important roles in both winning World War II and in laying the groundwork for computer technology, and who was hounded to suicide by an intolerant society. The basic … Continue reading My Thoughts on The Imitation Game
Physics Saturday: Interstellar and The Theory of Everything
I saw two very different movies on Saturday, but both were about physics. Well, sort of. Physics and fiction don't blend together unless you can work in suspense, romance, tragedy, horrible diseases, and special effects. Although one movie is a big, expensive Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, and the other a British Indiewood biopic, their titles are … Continue reading Physics Saturday: Interstellar and The Theory of Everything
Journalism, Fiction, Torture, and Zero Dark Thirty
I saw Zero Dark Thirty last night, so I can can finally discuss the various controversies. But first, let me say that I liked the movie very much, although not as much as many others. The direction, photography, acting, and editing were all topnotch. But there was something hollow in the center. We never learn … Continue reading Journalism, Fiction, Torture, and Zero Dark Thirty
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