Movies Amour Movie Shot

One of the last films of the year for me, Amour,  is a highly-regarded foreign film that’s gaining a lot of attention of late due to it receiving several major Oscar nominations for Best Film, Foreign Film, Director and Actress. This French story focuses on a cultured married couple in their 80’s. They live a […]

Movies Hitchcock Movie Shot

For several weeks (months?) I’ve been acutely aware of the new Hitchcock film starring Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock. Anyone who’s seen a movie lately will know why it’s so easily brought to mind. Hopkins, in full character, has been greeting movie-goers to a funny parody asking people not to text during the movie as […]

Movies Les Miserables Movie Shot

The latest interpretation of one of the most famous stories in literature and stage, Les Miserables,  comes to the big screen as a musical. It stars Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette) and more. I will say from the start that I’m a big fan of the stage version of […]

Movies Django Unchained Movie Shot

I’m not at all sure who Quentin Tarantino targets his movies to but, with growing regularity, I’m clearly not one of his targets. His latest effort, Django Unchained, had its release delayed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy. After seeing it, I now understand why. I just wish it had been delayed to […]

Movies The Impossible Movie Shot

Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts star as husband and wife Henry and Maria, vacationing with their three sons in Thailand for Christmas. Their idyllic excursion comes to a brutal end when the infamous tsunami comes bursting through their resort and scattering everyone. The early scenes of the movie involve jaw-dropping, highly realistic recreation of the […]

Movies Any Day Now Movie Shot

Rudy, a gay female impersonator (played by Alan Cumming) has his life turned 180 degrees unexpectedly when he ventures into his neighbor’s abandoned apartment to turn down the endlessly playing (and loud) radio only to find her Down Syndrome-suffering child Marco sitting there left all alone. This story, supposedly based on true events (though I […]

Movies Life of Pi Movie Shot

There was something in the previews of Life of Pi that kept me from rushing to see it. To be honest, it looked a bit too fantastical for my tastes. I saw it last night and now lament every single day of having not experienced this wondrous story. The film is about Pi Patel—now older—telling […]

Movies Anna Karenina Movie Shot

I feel cheated. The previews for Anna Karenina did absolutely nothing to prepare me for the unique approach of this telling of the famous Leo Tolstoy story—and I suspect this was very much on purpose. Many people are probably familiar with the tale as there have been decades of books movies, plays and more. However, […]

Movies Chasing Ice Movie Shot

Chasing Ice is a film that documents the disappearance of glaciers from key areas around the globe in a way intended to provide real context. Researcher James Balog built a team dubbed Extreme Ice Survey. The team installed cutting-edge time-lapse cameras in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska and Montana. Understand that installation of this equipment is no small task. The […]

Movies A Royal Affair Movie Shot

A young princess is married-off to a mentally disturbed young king and seeks solace in the arms of her physician in A Royal Affair. I have to admit that I don’t really know much of anything about the broader history of Denmark. In the United States that pretty much means I’m like nearly everyone else. […]

Movies Lincoln Movie Shot

A President struggles with the political and social complexities of freeing an entire race from the shackles of slavery in Lincoln. I never seem to lose the excitement of seeing whatever the latest effort is from uber-director Steven Spielberg. Last year that excitement wasn’t very long-lived, but this year Spielberg has tackled a subject I thought […]

Movies The House I Live In Movie Shot

This new documentary on the history, status and impact of the drug war in America will leave you in a state of anger. The House I Live In is presented in a way that leaves very little doubt that the entire effort and all the countless dollars that have gone into this “war” were not […]