'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week and capping a record-setting $10.8 billion year in moviegoing.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week and capping a record-setting $10.8 billion year in moviegoing.
The top 10 films of 2012, according to AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire:
The Civil War saga "Lincoln," the musical "Les Miserables" and the comic drama "Silver Linings Playbook" boosted their Academy Awards prospects Wednesday with four nominations apiece for the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The Civil War saga "Lincoln," the musical "Les Miserables" and the comic drama "Silver Linings Playbook" boosted their Academy Awards prospects Wednesday with four nominations apiece for the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The French-language drama "Amour" was chosen as the year's best film Sunday by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, whose prizes are among a flurry of year-end honors that help sort out the Academy Awards race.
Filmmakers love to make movies about making movies. Yes, it is a navel-gazing business, but crafting films about this craft is one more means of self-expression. We've seen several emerge this year alone, including the likely Oscar contender "Argo." And this week we have "Hitchcock," about the making of "Psycho," starring Anthony Hopkins as the master director.
It's tempting to call "The Master" a revelation, except that I'm not quite sure what, if anything, this elusive and elliptical tale of character, will and power actually reveals. But it's certainly a confirmation of director Paul Thomas Anderson's status as one of the most fascinating and visionary directors working today.
Paul Thomas Anderson's cult drama "The Master" commanded a huge following in its opening weekend, smashing records on just a handful of screens.
"Resident Evil: Retribution" ruled the box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $21.1 million.
The Angelika Film Center & Cafe opens Sept. 21 in Fairfax County; it's the newest outpost of the famed Angelika art house in New York City's SoHo district, and it's bringing the chain's unique blend of surprising programming, delicious snacks and ambience to Virginia audiences.
"Arbitrage" _ Greed is good, until it isn't anymore, in this guilty-pleasure thriller for these tough economic times. In directing his first feature, writer and documentarian Nicholas Jarecki shows great command of tone _ a balance of sex, danger and manipulation with some insiderish business talk and a healthy sprinkling of dark humor to break up the tension. His film is well-cast and strongly acted, and while it couldn't be more relevant, it also recalls the decadence of 1980s Wall Street, shot in 35mm as it is, with a synth-heavy score. "Arbitrage" is a lurid look at a lavish lifestyle that allows us to cluck disapprovingly while still vicariously enjoying its luxurious trappings. Richard Gere stars as billionaire hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller. As he turns 60, Robert would seem to have it all _ yet he always wants more, and feels emboldened by the different set of rules and morals that seems to apply in his rarefied world. So he "borrows" $417 million from a fellow tycoon to cover a hole in his portfolio and make his company look as stable as possible as it's about to be acquired by a bank. And despite the loyalty and support of his smart, beautiful wife (Susan Sarandon), he has a hot (and hot-headed) French mistress on the side (former Victoria's Secret model Laetitia Casta) who runs in stylish, hard-partying art circles. Both these schemes explode in his face over the course of a few fateful days. Tim Roth, Brit Marling and Nate Parker co-star. R for language, brief violent images and drug use. 100 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Joaquin Phoenix looked as though he'd lost it, coming completely unglued with his film "I'm Still Here," in which he chronicles his supposed move into rap music after announcing his retirement from acting.
Viewers hoping for a juicy expose of the super-secretive Church of Scientology in "The Master" might want to adjust their expectations just a tad.
Jurors at the Venice Film Festival loved "The Master," a film inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but strict rules kept them from giving it the top Golden Lion prize along with the other awards it garnered.
"We were able to get this record without scratching and clawing to a record," he said.
It's clear that Mr. Anderson, who also wrote the script, based the Cause on Scientology, and Dodd on its founder, L. Ron Hubbard: Both use psychological techniques to achieve mental control, and both have a mystical element tinged with sci-fi outlandishness.
