http://www.grouchoreviews.com/ Fri, 17 May 2013 23:20:15 GMT Film/DVD reviews, interviews and features. http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4469 /reviews/4469 The awfulness of the narrative is plain to see, and yet...no one can say Stand Up Guys lacks personality. Thu, 16 May 2013 15:27:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4501 /reviews/4501 Smart or...dumb? Yes, and...fun to hang around with for a couple of hours. Wed, 15 May 2013 05:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4497 /reviews/4497 Though the film nakedly seeks a wide audience through conventional plotting and characterization…and despite being (like most action movies) guy-centric…Shanghai Noon provides good, clean ‘family‘ fun. Tue, 14 May 2013 18:51:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/684 /reviews/684 This innocent, sixties-style, big-budget comedy-romance-action-adventure romp is solid family entertainment that would make any self-respecting kid‘s jaw drop for a good two hours. Tue, 14 May 2013 18:48:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4503 /reviews/4503 As good as, if not better than, any of the feature films that would later star the Next Generation cast. Tue, 14 May 2013 04:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4502 /reviews/4502 Not only did the third season mark a quantum leap in non-niche popularity for the series, but a greater consistency in the show‘s writing and execution that meant a precipitous drop in fan complaints. Tue, 14 May 2013 04:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/372 /interviews/372 [Pegg:] Kirk is emotionally compromised from the start of this film. You know, he‘s driven by something other than sense. He‘s driven by vengeance. And Scotty really is absolutely right to stand up to him... Mon, 13 May 2013 23:42:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4500 /reviews/4500 Luhrmann approaches the story and directs his actors in ways that hold them at a distance from us: the overkill plays less as bold art and more as lack of trust in the source material. Fri, 10 May 2013 13:48:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4499 /reviews/4499 Inviting photography and a relentless pace complement Claude‘s unfolding narrative, but the big thrills are in the deftly drawn characters...and the incisive satire... Fri, 10 May 2013 13:43:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4498 /reviews/4498 Works best when it sticks close to Henry, whose broad grin fails to mask a growing desperation. Quaid not only makes a believably corn-fed patriarch, but he captures the mien of one who is slowly ceding his soul... Sat, 04 May 2013 23:49:07 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/371 /interviews/371 [Quaid:] It’s like a process of osmosis...I was thrown into the place, and I was just trying to soak in as much as I could from the farmers, from the feel of the place where we were at... Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:46:08 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4496 /reviews/4496 Perhaps it‘s damning Renoir with faint praise to call it agreeable, but Gilles Bourdos‘ film...shows an admirable restraint, quiet simplicity, and lush pictorial beauty. Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:06:52 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3340 /reviews/3340 All the ingredients for a great evening at the movies: lively music, eye-catching scenery, larger-than-life comic set pieces, suave men and beautiful women, and odd-man-out Clouseau, played to perfection by the one and only Peter Sellers. Mon, 22 Apr 2013 05:07:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/370 /interviews/370 [Wagner:] Blake...had it in his mind. But he used a lot of what happened and what the actors would bring to it...the thing with the hook on the door and me going around and all that…the sweater...all things that came up as we went along. Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:39:54 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4494 /reviews/4494 The most satisfying cinematic experience we‘ve had at the multiplex thus far this year, and largely through its disinterest in playing along with movie trends. Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:16:45 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/369 /interviews/369 None of us are doing peer-reviewed stuff on the things that we believe; we’re just sort of swallowing whatever gets published in Scientific American, or whatever, which is not a horrible thing, but...we obviously don‘t know everything. Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:15:59 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4493 /reviews/4493 There are two types of people in the world. Those who should under no circumstances see the horror sequel/reboot Evil Dead and those who just gotta see it. Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:17:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4488 /reviews/4488 Day-Lewis...wears well the weariness of the office and Lincoln‘s puckish yet subdued sense of humor, scaling the man closer to life-size than Mount Rushmore monumental. Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:01:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4491 /reviews/4491 Sunny days, blue skies, and rippling blue waters lined with greenery...Plain nice, and there‘s nothing wrong with that. Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:30:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4490 /reviews/4490 Do not consume The Host before operating heavy machinery. Side effects may include spontaneous coma or fits of giggling. Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:22:29 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4439 /reviews/4439 Supplements its palace intrigue with the good old-fashioned pull of romance and costume drama...Mikkelsen‘s magnetism and sly expressiveness hold the film‘s center with a quiet potency. Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:57:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4487 /reviews/4487 Monsieur Verdoux can boast a screenplay with a highly unusual moral complexity and a deeply philosophical bent...Yes, Verdoux is a film that name-drops Schopenhauer, but it‘s also damn funny... Mon, 25 Mar 2013 03:21:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4461 /reviews/4461 By most cinematic measures, Zero Dark Thirty is one of the best-made films of 2012. It also probably shouldn‘t exist. Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:31:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/368 /interviews/368 When I saw Gospel According to St. Matthew, I started getting heart palpitations...It was the best movie I had ever seen...I had to crawl up to the projection booth and call my girlfriend and have her take me to the hospital. Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:12:58 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4486 /reviews/4486 Appears to have been market-tested to within an inch of its life, so despite a theme of finding the capacity to evolve, the picture remains mired in the tar pit of formula. Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:56:56 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/250 /features/250 The Year‘s Best Films             1. This is Not a Film  This is the rare film that is more: a rebellious yawp over the rooftops of the world, a vital social document, a moral but illegal political statement. World-class filmmaker Jafar Panahi (Crimson Gold) has frequently tangled with the... Fri, 21 Dec 2012 20:26:04 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/249 /features/249 In the last few years, leaps and bounds have taken The San Francisco Silent Film Festival to new heights of ambition and stature. The 17th San Francisco Silent Film Festival running July 12-15, 2012 at the Castro Theatre bears that out in what has been the institution‘s banner year thus far. The Fest topped itself with its historic presentation, ea... Sat, 07 Jul 2012 06:32:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/248 /features/248 The exhibition runs from 11:00am-4:00pm daily; admission is $5 for SFMHS members and $10 for the general public. Tickets also remain available for the Standing Ovations benefit Thu Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:20:27 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/247 /features/247 The San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 19-May 3, and it‘s once again loaded up with intriguing international titles... Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:26:59 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/246 /features/246 The Year‘s Best Films 1. The Tree of Life  No studio release this year was more ambitious, emotional, or elegant than The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick‘s searching epic about our place in a family, a town, a galaxy, the universe. Emmanuel Lubezki‘s innovative cinematography beautifully painted with light and shadow and color, while boy lead H... Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:24:52 GMT Peter Canavese