March 2012
All the feature-length films I've seen in March. I also saw Oliver Stone's Looking for Fidel, but IMDB doesn't seem to have it listed.
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37 titles
- DirectorOtto PremingerRouben MamoulianStarsGene TierneyDana AndrewsClifton WebbA police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.While most of the film is a triumph of plot and atmosphere, it starts disintegrating towards the end, largely due to the increasing emphasis on a harebrained romantic angle. [B+]
- DirectorBrad FurmanStarsMatthew McConaugheyMarisa TomeiRyan PhillippeA lawyer defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime.Some snappy editing, scoring, and directing make what could have been an entirely forgettable movie something more. [B-]
- DirectorWilliam KaufmanStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Cole HauserJonathan LaPagliaA man creates a hit list with a stranger during a drunken night out and must then race to try to save those he marked for death as the bodies pile up and all fingers point to him.Just as *beep* as you'd expect it to be, and then some. [F]
- DirectorVera FarmigaStarsVera FarmigaJoshua LeonardDagmara DominczykA chronicle of one woman's lifelong struggle with her faith.A fascinating effort, although not an entirely successful one. For a film more matter-of-fact and complex than most movies about faith, it's startlingly closed-off when it comes to its characters.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGary CooperGrace KellyThomas MitchellA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.Admirably straightforward but ultimately too earnest to lend credibility to its heavy-handed political agenda. [B-]
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.Obnoxiously stupid. Trying to have its cake and eat it too, Battle Royale tries to be an over-the-top film about child murder and a Serious Political Movie at the same time. Needless to say, it fails miserably at both. [D]
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsPatrick SwayzeKeanu ReevesGary BuseyAn F.B.I. Agent goes undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers.One of the slickest, most adrenalin-pumping action movies of the '90s, if not ever. [A-]
- DirectorBrad FurmanStarsJohn LeguizamoTyrese GibsonRosie PerezAfter he's shot during a heist in East L.A., an armored truck driver wrestles with rehabilitation and tracking down the man who committed the crime.It never decides if it wants to be a complicated story of a man slowly going insane or a simple revenge pic, cannibalizing itself in the process of its own indecision. [C-]
- DirectorSteven SilverStarsRyan PhillippeMalin AkermanTaylor KitschA drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa.An amazingly unmemorable film. [D-]
- DirectorMike LeighStarsDavid ThewlisLesley SharpKatrin CartlidgeAn unemployed Mancunian vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.Mike Leigh at his finest. Funny, brilliantly cynical, and downright lyrical, Naked offers one of the finest portraits of contemporary England. [A]
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsSteve McQueenFaye DunawayPaul BurkeA debonair, adventuresome bank executive believes he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist, only to match wits with a sexy insurance investigator who will do anything to get her man.The screenplay is just an increasingly weak series of excuses for McQueen and Dunaway to display their sexual chemistry, which would be fine if they had any. Over the course of the film, it becomes clear that McQueen is more interested in himself than in his airheaded costar. [C+]
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsAdam SandlerEmily WatsonPhilip Seymour HoffmanSocially frustrated Barry Egan calls a phone-sex line to curb his loneliness. Little does he know it will land him in deep trouble and will jeopardize his burgeoning romance with the mysterious Lena.Nothing short of great. Don't be put off by the casting of Sandler or the mess that was Magnolia (Anderson's previous effort). I can't think of another recent American film that displays such boundless charm and exuberant beauty. [A+]
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist Cleopatra agrees to marry Hans the leader of side-show performers, but Hans' deformed friends discover that she is only marrying him for his inheritance. So they seek revenge.Running at a slim 60-plus minutes, it's more a quick, forgettable curio than a fully-fledged film. [C]
- DirectorErnie BarbarashStarsJean-Claude Van DammeScott AdkinsIvan KayeTwo assassins agree to work together as one tries to avenge his wife and the other collects a reward for a job.Shamelessly derivative and cheap, Assassination Games is one of those movies you watch then completely forget about. Van Damme is still a badass, though. [D]
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTom EwellEvelyn KeyesWhen his family goes away for the summer, a hitherto faithful husband with an overactive imagination is tempted by a beautiful neighbor.Billy Wilder's filmmaking prowess is nowhere to be found here; it's nothing more than a lazy excuse for Monroe to wiggle across the screen. [C]
- DirectorOren MovermanStarsWoody HarrelsonBen FosterSigourney WeaverSet in 1999 Los Angeles, veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, works to take care of his family, and struggles for his own survival.Really disappointing. I loved Moverman's last film, The Messenger, but Rampart is too unfocused to effectively capture any of that film's bittersweet humanity. [C]
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsGérard BlainJean-Claude BrialyMichèle MéritzAfter long absence, a man returns to his hometown only to find his best friend has become an alcoholic.It's a film about growing up, it's a film about hometowns. It's about small town vs. big city. It's about social perceptions and memory. It's genteel and sophisticated while being unabashadly and unpretentiously emotional. It's nothing short of brilliant. [A]
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsSylvia SidneyJoel McCreaHumphrey BogartThe lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.Unequivocally awful. The astonishingly bad acting is outweighed only by Wyler's shallow and condescending characterization of the lower classes. [D+]
- DirectorSergey LoznitsaStarsViktor NemetsVladimir GolovinAleksey VertkovA few days in the life of truck driver Georgi, which seems to be a never-ending nightmare, a spiral of violence and abuses of power.A dense and sometimes oblique film, but never boring. Seamlessly weaving brutal and surreal vignettes that span decades, My Joy creates an astonishing and refreshingly original look of Russian society.
- DirectorNick LoveStarsDanny DyerFrank HarperTamer HassanAn insight on the gritty life of a bored male, Chelsea football hooligan who lives for violence, sex, drugs & alcohol.Little more than just another Guy Ritchie knockoff, but still fun while it lasts. [C+]
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsPeter FinchGlenda JacksonMurray HeadThe emotional intricacies of a polyamorous relationship between young artist Bob and his two lovers: a lonely male doctor and a frustrated female office worker.The story of two people teetering on the edge of inevitable heartbreak, Sunday Bloody Sunday flawlessly captures the ups, downs, and flatlines of impending tragedy. Much like David Lean and Noel Coward did 25 years before with Brief Encounter, Schlesinger creates a love story that never forgets the relative mundanity of its characters but never sells them short, embracing the everyday beauty and tragedy found in every human relationship. [A+]
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsRichard HarrisRachel RobertsAlan BadelDespite success on the field, a rising rugby star senses the emerging emptiness of his life as his inner angst begins to materialize through aggression and brutality, so he attempts to woo his landlady in hopes of finding reason to live.Gorgeous photography, smooth direction, and a knockout performance by notorious hellraiser Richard Harris all lend this quintessentially British film a whiff of greatness. [A]
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsCharlton HestonLizabeth ScottViveca LindforsGamblers who "took" an out-of-town sucker in a crooked poker game feel shadowy vengeance closing in on them.Something of a cop out; it's as if halfway through the film the makers of the film realized they had a thoroughly despicable protagonist and threw in every tired movie shortcut to make him sympathetic. [C]
- DirectorMarlon BrandoStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenPina PellicerAfter robbing a bank in Mexico, Dad Longworth absconds with the loot leaving his partner Rio to be captured by the Rurales. Rio escapes prison but struggles with his conflicting desires to love Dad's stepdaughter Louise and to get revenge.A pleasant surprise. While it's not a classic, it is more engaging and ambiguous than I expected.
- DirectorJuan Carlos FresnadilloStarsMax von SydowEusebio PoncelaLeonardo SbaragliaIn a world where luck can be taken from a lucky person by a luckier person's touch, a small group of lucky people compete to be the luckiest and for the other contestants' luck.Entirely forgettable, Intacto's novel premise only serves to make the film more intriguing at the time. [C]