My Opinion: 6.3 || A nifty, efficient thriller with above-average directing touches. The premise is one that’s been repeated many times since, and it’s a good one. One of the protagonists undergoes a transformation… Continue reading
My Opinion: 5.6 || Do the strengths outweigh the flaws? I can’t decide. It’s slow to develop, many of the characters lack real depth, and the director sometimes seems more intent on tormenting his… Continue reading
My Opinion: 6.9 || A strong creative vision and captivatingly deranged performance places this in the magnificent failure category. It’s a great portrait of ruthless, megalomaniac idealism and of what happens when we encounter… Continue reading
My Opinion: 6.6 || Caustic portrait of life in a totalitarian state and the extreme difficulty of reconciling morality with self-preservation. As a film about the Holocaust, it distinguishes itself by not scoring easy… Continue reading
My Opinion: 3.8 || Ugh. A lazy guy we don’t like makes dumb mistakes that we don’t believe. Slowly.
My Opinion: 8.0 || Peculiar, bold, fascinating film — never seen anything quite like it. I can easily imagine people hating the movie’s oddness or finding it dull, but I was absorbed from start… Continue reading
My Opinion: 6.3 || A political thriller with a distinctive style, it’s effective as a wide-ranging procedural but doesn’t succeed as well at the level of emotion and character. Costa-Gavras gives us great breadth,… Continue reading
My Opinion: 6.7 || A movie that steadily gathers narrative and emotional momentum. The naïve, headstrong protagonist Wei is a refreshingly peculiar girl whose flaws are indistinguishable from her strengths. It’s a delicately flavored… Continue reading
My Opinion: 6.5 || A lot of fun. The movie is all over the place and not uniformly successful, but the joy is genuine and you’re happy to forgive the moments that don’t work.… Continue reading
My Opinion: 6.1 || A good story that’s solidly told. Nothing extraordinary from a filmmaking standpoint, but the movie is entertaining and effective. Although the director does nothing to defy filmmaking convention, he also… Continue reading
I'm an author and consultant in Portland, Oregon. My novel 'Beheld' will be published this June.
