HollywoodandFine.com Mike Birbiglia seems like an easy-going guy, someone who probably has a little trouble with confrontation or sticking up for himself. At least that’s how he comes off in “Sleepwalk With Me,” the film version of his hit one-man show that played off-Broadway for almost a year, opening in …
HollywoodandFine.com The title of Dax Shepard’s “Hit & Run” doesn’t really make sense, given the movie itself. If it implies car chases, well, that’s accurate – but, again, it’s not about accidents. The only thing accidental here is that this movie got made – and they seem to have done …
HollywoodandFine.com There is something magical about “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.” But not, unfortunately, magical enough. For a fable like this to work, you need a vision sharp enough, created with enough heart and wit, to brush aside complaints about its fantastic plot – fantastic in the sense of …
HollywoodandFine.com “Why Stop Now” boasts such a diverse cast of recognizable faces that you have to wonder where it all went wrong. A strange blend of comedy and drama that never quite jells, the film was cowritten and codirected by Ron Nyswaner (an Oscar nominee for “Philadelphia”) and newcomer Phil …
HollywoodandFine.com A caper film whose biggest thief is actually the inexorable flow of time, “Robot & Frank” is a terrific character study that offers the always-captivating Frank Langella the opportunity to stretch out a little bit. Though Jake Schreier’s film, from a script by Christopher Ford, builds to a contrived …
HollywoodandFine.com Craig Zobel’s “Compliance” may be the creepiest movie of the year. It has no physical violence, no sex, barely even a raised voice – and yet it burrows into your brain and keeps burrowing, the longer you watch. Based on a set of actual incidents, “Compliance” starts out simply …
HollywoodandFine.com The last time a kid was saying “I see dead people” in a movie, it was “The Sixth Sense” – and it was meant to be frightening. Now the kid who’s saying it is the star of “ParaNorman,” which is meant to be funny and exciting. Unfortunately wrong on …
HollywoodandFine.com A sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s 2010 hail-Mary all-action-star effort to regain relevance at the box office, “The Expendables 2” may be the biggest, bloodiest and most willfully stupid film since the last time Michael Bay stepped behind a camera. This one is directed by Simon West, someone else who …
HollywoodandFine.com “Chicken with Plums,” opening Friday (8/17/12) in limited release, is a fascinating puzzle: at once a mordant comedy, a tale of unrequited love and a story of heart-breaking artistry. Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud from Satrapi’s graphic novel, it is magical and mysterious, a story of love …
HollywoodandFine.com I rarely take notes during movies, but when the pretentious aphorisms started flying in David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” I dove for my notebook. I missed a few of the early ones, but managed to scribble down several of the ripest, most ridiculous pronouncements, starting with: “Life is too contemporary.” Or …