Category: Director

  • The Brothers Solomon (2007)

    Considering the scathing reviews that greeted The Brothers Solomon upon its theatrical release, you’d think the filmmakers had been guilty of beating children and small dogs. I am happy to report that the movie I saw was guilty of nothing worse than mediocrity. Directed by Bob Odenkirk and penned by Saturday Night Live alum Will…

  • Lady in the Water (2006)

    Judging by the charges of rank self-indulgence that M. Night Shyamalan endured at the time for Lady in the Water, you might half-expect it to be 108 minutes of the director singing in the shower, brushing his teeth, and taking a dump while reading the Philadelphia Inquirer. The movie’s reception by critics in 2006 was…

  • Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

    I love Moonrise Kingdom. There, I said it. End of review. OK, that’s not really the end. Pardon my rapturous take, but writer-director Wes Anderson appears to be one of very few filmmakers who can truly capture the strange world of adolescent love — its exuberance, its earnestness and its flat-out weirdness. Anderson’s best works,…

  • Capote (2005)

    Truly great acting is always thrilling to see, but it reaches a different level of accomplishment when the performance is of a real-life icon. Such is the case with Capote. Philip Seymour Hoffman more than earned his Best Actor Oscar as the late author Truman Capote. The actor, arguably the best of his generation, transcends…

  • The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

    In its tale of death and loyalty along the U.S.-Mexico border, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada bears similarities to the great westerns of John Ford. Like that masterful storyteller, director Tommy Lee Jones (in his big-screen directorial debut) and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga revel in the splendor of nature and the small, lyrical moments of…

  • Platoon (1986)

    Oliver Stone is not known for timidity of vision, and in Platoon, the often-controversial filmmaker doesn’t hold back. Having been a 21-year-old infantryman during the Vietnam War, Stone synthesized that life-changing experience into his 1986 masterpiece that would go on to earn Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.  Platoon, in my estimation, is easily…

  • Another Year (2010)

    Nothing much happens in Mike Leigh films, at least not in the strictest sense of Plot Mechanics 101. There are no car chases or explosions, not even a juicy epiphany in the final reel. The British writer-director is seeking something else. In emotionally rich films like Secrets & Lies and Topsy-Turvy, he explores the complexities…

  • 127 Hours (2010)

    Man-versus-nature tales don’t get much more harrowing than the real-life one involving Aron Ralston. You aren’t likely to recognize the name, but you might know the incident that made him famous. In May 2003, Ralston was mountain climbing in a remote section of Utah when a boulder crushed his right hand and wrist. Trapped for…