Category Archives: Film Reviews

Film reviews and analyses. Most recently published is in front.

Bridge of Spies

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Mark DuPré

The newest Spielberg film is out, and while it’s second-level Spielberg, that means it’s only better than 95 percent of what else is out there. Bridge of Spies is based on the true story of an American lawyer’s defense of … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Amistad, Amy Ryan, Bridge of Spies, Catch Me If You Can, Cold War, Gary Powers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Janusz Kaminski, Jimmy Stewart, Lincoln, Mark Rylance, Minority Report, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Munich, Oscar Schindler, Rudolph Abel, Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg, The BFG, The Terminal, Thomas Cromwell, War Horse, War of the Worlds, Wolf Hall | Leave a comment

Clouds of Sils Maria

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Though the film is fascinating in several aspects, I saw this film for one reason: to see if all the hype about Twilight’s Kristen Stewart was legitimate. A young actress who became something of a laughingstock for her limited expressions … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Clouds of Sils Maria, Jerry Lewis, Julianna Moore, Juliet Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Olivier Assayas, Still Alice, Twilight | Leave a comment

Sicario

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Mark DuPré

This is going to be a short one. I read the great reviews and decided to see Sicario, the story of, as described by IMDB, “an idealistic FBI agent [who] is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Into the Woods, Josh Brolin, Marion Crane, Norman Bates, Psycho, Roger Deakins, Sicario, The Devil Wears Prada, Traffic | Leave a comment

The Martian

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Intelligent, well-crafted Hollywood films are supposed to be narrowly focused and possess a mid-sized budget—think All the President’s Men, The Social Network, and Moneyball. Space films are supposed to be bloated and/or full of dangerous other-worldly creatures. Then came Gravity, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Alien, American Sniper, Apollo 13, Blade Runner, Cast Away, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Lean, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Gladiator, J. Edgar, Jeff Daniels, Jersey Boys, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Lawrence of Arabia, LOTR, Mark Watney, Matt Damon, Michael Pena, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Sean Bean, The Martian, Tom Hanks | Leave a comment

One Way Passage: A Tour Through Yesterday

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Mark DuPré

After recently watching a “minor” work of the great British team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, “I Know Where I’m Going”, my wife asked me how I enjoyed the 1945 film, most of which was set in the rugged … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged "I Know Where I'm Going", Aline MacMahon, Box Office Poison, Dragon Seed, Emeric Pressburger, Ernst Lubitsch, Frank McHugh, Fred Astaire, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn, Kay Francis, Life with Father, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Powell, One Way Passage, Pre-Code, Tay Garnett, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Thin Man, Trouble in Paradise, William Powell | Leave a comment

The Two Great Film Anniversaries You Probably Didn’t Hear About

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Mark DuPré

2015 is the one-hundred-year anniversary of two monumental events in the history of cinema. The fact you’re not hearing about them is two-fold: one is especially technical and most folks aren’t interested, and the other is being tragically choked out … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Film-Related Articles, Older Films | Tagged "In Glorious Technicolor", Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith, George Eastman House, Gone with the Wind, History of American Film, Jim Crow, Ku Klux Klan, racism, singin' in the rain, Technicolor, The Wizard of Oz | Leave a comment

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Somewhere in the middle of loud action, threatening dinosaurs and pixilated activities in films ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, Tom Cruise managed to release the latest film in the Mission Impossible series. Rogue Nation is one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Casablanca, Ethan Hunt, Hitchcock, Ilsa, Ingrid Bergman, James Bond, Jeremy Renner, Jerry McGuire, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Rebecca Ferguson, Renee Zellweger, Simon Pegg, Spectre, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Tom Cruise | Leave a comment

Quick Takes: Inside Out, Ant-Man, Out of the Past

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Been busy with the publication of book number two and the continuation of book number three! So here are some quick takes on what I’ve been seeing. Inside Out Pixar’s latest success in a long string of successes. Great vocal … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films, Older Films | Tagged Ant-Man, Avengers, Evangeline Lilly, femme fatale, film noir, Inside Out, Iron Man, Jane Greer, Lost, Michael Douglas, Out of the Past, Paul Rudd, Pixar, Robert Mitchum, superhero, The Big Sleep | Leave a comment

Jurassic World

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Jurassic World has two things going for it—state-of-the-art special effects and Chris Pratt. It’s also got a completely unoriginal plot line with cliché subplots, and is often poorly directed. And it’s the biggest moneymaker of the year, which is worth … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Colin Treverrow, Jurassic World, Mary Poppins, sexual politics, Stephen Spielberg, The Help, The Sound of Music | Leave a comment

The Garden of Allah (1936)

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Such a curiosity! The film is visually stunning, stolid, lumpy and howlingly unbelievable. But it’s worth a look for several reasons. The story is so out of our time as to be worthy of archeological study. A young woman who … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Algiers, Charles Boyer, David O. Selznick, Gone with the Wind, H.G. Wells, Marlene Dietrich, Max Steiner, Oscar, Richard Boleslawski, Technicolor, The Garden of Allah, The Method, The Red Shoes, Things to Come, William Cameron Menzies | Leave a comment