http://www.grouchoreviews.com/ Fri, 17 May 2013 12:47:52 GMT Film/DVD reviews, interviews and features. http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4501 /reviews/4501 Smart or...dumb? Yes, and...fun to hang around with for a couple of hours. Wed, 15 May 2013 05:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4500 /reviews/4500 Luhrmann approaches the story and directs his actors in ways that hold them at a distance from us: the overkill plays less as bold art and more as lack of trust in the source material. Fri, 10 May 2013 13:48:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4499 /reviews/4499 Inviting photography and a relentless pace complement Claude‘s unfolding narrative, but the big thrills are in the deftly drawn characters...and the incisive satire... Fri, 10 May 2013 13:43:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4498 /reviews/4498 Works best when it sticks close to Henry, whose broad grin fails to mask a growing desperation. Quaid not only makes a believably corn-fed patriarch, but he captures the mien of one who is slowly ceding his soul... Sat, 04 May 2013 23:49:07 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4496 /reviews/4496 Perhaps it‘s damning Renoir with faint praise to call it agreeable, but Gilles Bourdos‘ film...shows an admirable restraint, quiet simplicity, and lush pictorial beauty. Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:06:52 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4494 /reviews/4494 The most satisfying cinematic experience we‘ve had at the multiplex thus far this year, and largely through its disinterest in playing along with movie trends. Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:16:45 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4493 /reviews/4493 There are two types of people in the world. Those who should under no circumstances see the horror sequel/reboot Evil Dead and those who just gotta see it. Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:17:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4491 /reviews/4491 Sunny days, blue skies, and rippling blue waters lined with greenery...Plain nice, and there‘s nothing wrong with that. Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:30:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4490 /reviews/4490 Do not consume The Host before operating heavy machinery. Side effects may include spontaneous coma or fits of giggling. Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:22:29 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4486 /reviews/4486 Appears to have been market-tested to within an inch of its life, so despite a theme of finding the capacity to evolve, the picture remains mired in the tar pit of formula. Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:56:56 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4485 /reviews/4485 This pretty period-pictorial companion piece to the novel fatally misses out on the brain-firing raw buzz that Kerouac felt and passed on to his readers... Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:51:14 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4484 /reviews/4484 Park’s skills for surreal subjectivity and the mischievously weird certainly don’t hurt, but they can’t quite banish Stoker’s narrative speed bumps and draughts of cold air... Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:13:59 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4480 /reviews/4480 Oz the Great and Powerful gets saved from the junk heap by Franco and especially by director Sam Raimi, who happily treats the enterprise as a sandbox. Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:48:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4481 /reviews/4481 Swims upstream against high-definition with a defiantly lo-fi approach that‘s also ingeniously evocative of the historical period. Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4482 /reviews/4482 The film isn‘t a worldbeater as either old-school journalism of rigorous reportage or dazzling showmanship...will be of most use as a time capsule of sorts... Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:07:16 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4483 /reviews/4483 The mealy half-truth director Peter Webber...and screenwriters Vera Blasi and David Klass settle for just winds up a waste of everyone‘s time. Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:06:16 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4479 /reviews/4479 Provides plenty of moving case studies...[but] it‘s most useful for its prismatic look at the problem of American hunger, examining the problem‘s recent history, its root causes...and its inextricability from other national crises... Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:10:42 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4478 /reviews/4478 In its modern way, Snitch is almost Dickensian in its intent, missing no opportunity for melodramatic confrontation as it puts a (baby) face on a social ill. Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:30:48 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4477 /reviews/4477 The material calls out for a more expressive cinematographic treatment. Had the film been less antiseptic and more bold in its visuals and the emotional depths of its performances, it could have been a classic; instead, it‘s a rather ordinary indie. Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:50:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4476 /reviews/4476 The ‘other‘ Oscar-nominated feature about a war on terror, Dror Moreh’s documentary The Gatekeepers proves more intellectually engaging than Hollywood’s Zero Dark Thirty, and at least as unsettling. Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:43:00 GMT Peter Canavese