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Based on a Book

Missing Morals in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

January 20, 2023January 18, 2023 by M.C. Myers
Guillermo Del Toro Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio shimmers with excited physical energy but never coordinates its new story ideas with its old moral responsibilities.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 2020s, Animated, Based on a Book, Christophe Waltz, Ewan McGregor, Finn Wolfhard, Guillermo Del Toro, Musical, Remake, Ron Perlman, Tilda Swinton Leave a comment

Misadapting Terror in The Pale Blue Eye

January 11, 2023January 10, 2023 by M.C. Myers
The Pale Blue Eye Christian Bale

The Pale Blue Eye has the cast of a masterpiece and the script of a write-off. It’s inoffensive afternoon viewing, but Poe would have his name removed from it.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 2020s, Based on a Book, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christian Bale, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Scott Cooper, Thriller, Timothy Spall Leave a comment

Why Scrooge (1951) is the Best Version of A Christmas Carol

January 11, 2023December 29, 2022 by M.C. Myers

The 1951 version of Scrooge effortlessly recreates its candleglow world. This classic story has never been better.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 1950s, Alastair Sim, Based on a Book, Brian Desmond Hurst, Charles Dickens, Jack Warner, Remake Leave a comment

Dramatic Gaps and Tech Obsessions in The Shining

January 10, 2023December 21, 2022 by M.C. Myers
The Shining

The unassailable influence of Stanley Kubrick’s horror staple hides its dramatic shortcomings behind an illusion of prestige.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 1980s, Based on a Book, Horror, Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Stanley Kubrick Leave a comment

Cyrano (2021) – Glossing Over a Classic

September 3, 2022September 3, 2022 by M.C. Myers
Cyrano

Peter Dinklage is a powerful force for good in an otherwise listless adaptation that misinterprets whatever it doesn’t omit entirely.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 2020s, Based on a Book, Ben Mendelsohn, Haley Bennett, Joe Wright, Musical, Peter Dinklage, Remake, Romance Leave a comment

Locating Realism in The Revenant

November 28, 2022May 11, 2022 by M.C. Myers
The Revenant

The Revenant is a powerful statement on cinematic realism affected but not marred by its real toil. It’s old cinema made epic again.

Categories Featured Article Tags 2010s, Alejandro Inarritu, Based on a Book, Biopic, Emmanuel Lubezki, Leonardo DiCaprio, Revenge Thriller, Tom Hardy Leave a comment

Zodiac: Memories of Murmur

August 28, 2022March 6, 2022 by M.C. Myers
Zodiac

The 15th anniversary of Zodiac is the perfect occasion to revisit David Fincher’s best film and see how the thriller epic holds up in 2022.

Categories Film Reviews, Great Films Tags 2000s, Based on a Book, David Fincher, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Thriller Leave a comment

First Man: Cultural Breakthrough

March 27, 2022December 16, 2021 by M.C. Myers
First Man Ryan Gosling

With First Man, Damien Chazelle takes us to space and still thinks the most important things are the ones we left behind. The best film of 2018.

Categories Film Reviews, Great Films Tags 2010s, Based on a Book, Biopic, Claire Foy, Damien Chazelle, Kyle Chandler, Ryan Gosling Leave a comment

Brooklyn: Cautious Fairytale

December 23, 2021December 9, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Brooklyn Saoirse Ronan

Brooklyn is a well-meaning new version of the kind of movie we used to make much more easily. It’s not masterful, but at least it’s respectable.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 2010s, Based on a Book, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Romance, Saoirse Ronan Leave a comment

Enemy: The Right Wrong Man

March 22, 2022November 25, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Enemy Jake Gyllenhaal

An analysis of Villeneuve’s dreamy thriller, Hitchcock accelerated to spiritual attack speed. Arachnophobes beware.

Categories Film Reviews, Great Films Tags 2010s, Based on a Book, Isabella Rossellini, Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Thriller Leave a comment

Conan the Barbarian: The Days of Working Out

December 23, 2021November 10, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Conan the Barbarian Arnold Schwarzenegger

Conan the Barbarian throws itself into the brutal past, wielding its actor’s charm like a broadsword. Only plot conventions are strong enough to hurt him.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 1980s, Action, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Based on a Book, Fantasy Leave a comment

Alice Through the Looking Glass: To the Anti-Wonder

December 23, 2021November 4, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Alice Through the Looking Glass

Alice Through the Looking Glass is to wonderment what purging is to eating. It not only robs you of your meal – it even makes you regret it.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 2010s, Anne Hathaway, Based on a Book, Disney, Fantasy, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Movie Series Leave a comment

Primal Fear: Open-and-Open Case

December 23, 2021November 1, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Primal Fear Richard Gere

Primal Fear reuses courtroom thriller tropes without revising them. But the cast makes them live again, at least as the ultimate TNT cable drama.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 1990s, Based on a Book, Edward Norton, Laura Linney, Richard Gere, Thriller Leave a comment

Paddington 2: Steamboat Bear Jr.

December 23, 2021November 1, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Paddington 2

Paddington 2 sparkles with manners and a belief in beauty. Everyone was opening the doors for each other on the way out of the theater.

Categories Film Reviews, Great Films Tags 2010s, Based on a Book, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant, Movie Series, Paddington, Sally Hawkins, Sequel Leave a comment

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Homemade Magic

October 13, 2022November 1, 2021 by M.C. Myers
Harry Potter

The first Harry Potter film is not an epic but an invitation. Dark as a forest. Nice as a librarian. Warm as a fireplace.

Categories Film Reviews Tags 2000s, Alan Rickman, Based on a Book, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Fantasy, Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Maggie Smith, Movie Series, Rupert Grint Leave a comment

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