In one of the decisive scenes in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Pat Solitano Sr. (Robert De Niro) strikes a parlay with his gambling friend while the rest of the crowd in the house — including his son Pat (Bradley Cooper) and Pat’s dance partner Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) — fire their opinions in high volumes. Comparing their volatility to a bundle of home-made bombs would not be inappropriate: Pat Sr.
The 23rd and latest installment of the iconic spy film series by Ian Fleming, “Skyfall” is slick, sexy, exciting and above all, classic James Bond. Its loyalty to the franchise is rivaled only by that of Bond to MI6, the British intelligence agency that falls under attack both from an unexpected enemy and from the Parliament. Either side of the challenge presents a face-off: villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) brings a bitter reunion of kinship and betrayal, and the government brings up doubt over MI6’s relevance in the present-day world.
I love horror movies. Unfortunately, it seems like I’m increasingly alone in this statement — not that I can blame people for a lack of interest in a genre that self-cannibalizes and generally trades character identification and suspense for cardboard cut-outs and shock value. That being said, the number of horror films, including “Psycho,” “Jaws” and of course, “Halloween,” that are affectionately deemed cinema classics is larger than you may think. Are these, however, really the only films worthy of coming back to when looking for a scare?
“Argo” is the second of the handful of year-end films carrying with them heavy loads of Oscar buzz and attempting to bring home the hearts of film-goers and, more specifically, the Academy Awards come February. Following “The Master,” the result of a five-year toil of the director whose previous film was perhaps the most critically acclaimed of the last decade, hype for “Argo” was comparatively restrained.
There’s a lot to be said about “Looper,” but perhaps the most important speaks less to the successes of the film than to the dreary state of the pseudo-genre “time travel” movie and the larger science fiction genre as a whole.
Fireworks never flash across the screen, but “The Master” celebrates the genius of acting, screen-writing, set design, directing and almost everything else about cinema with no less fuel and splendor. It is your typical Oscar suspect: an art-house independent film with more than a streak of ambition, an idolized director notable for his uncompromising style, a fierce cast, an intriguing story and as always, something contentious that nests at the tongue of the critics and the public alike. And yes, it is irresistible to an upper-middle class college town.
Whether you will enjoy “PINA” or not largely depends on your attitude toward modern dance. For dance aficionados (like me), “PINA” is a vivacious feast of inspirations; for the rest, it is an almost two-hour long chronicle of crazy people dancing their limbs and brains out.
