Category Archives: Movie Review

“Spectre”: The shadow of “Skyfall” falls over the new Bond film

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“Spectre” opens Friday in Point, Palace, AMC Fitchburg and Sundance Cinemas. PG-13, 2:28, three stars out of four.

In the Daniel Craig era, we’ve seen two of the best James Bond films ever (“Casino Royale” and “Skyfall”) and one of the worst (“Quantum of Solace”). But we’ve never seen a middle-of-the-pack, conventional James Bond film yet.

Until “Spectre.” Don’t get me wrong — the pleasures of middle-of-the-pack Bond have been vast and enduring to me over the years, the essential stuff of ABC Sunday Night at the Movies and weekend matinees with Dad. And so it is in “Spectre,” which contains clever action sequences, spectacular locales, colorful baddies, and another assured performance by Craig in his fourth outing as 007. It’s just that the suit seems to fit him maybe a little too well this time.

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“(T)ERROR”: Meet the Keystone Kops of counterterrorism

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“(T)ERROR” has its Madison premiere Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St. FREE for museum members, $7 for all others. Not rated, 1:33, three stars out of four.

If the consequences weren’t so dire, the ham-fisted FBI “counterterrorism” operation chronicled in the documentary “(T)ERROR” would be comical. You could see the Coen Brothers or Christopher Guest take a whack at this sort of material — an FBI informant and would-be cupcake chef with delusions of grandeur (he’s a big fan of “Homeland”) ensnares completely innocent Muslims in terrorism investigations. And lets a documentary crew follow him around for the whole thing.

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“Truth”: All the president’s documents undo Robert Redford’s Dan Rather

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“Truth” opens Friday at Sundance and Marcus Palace Cinemas. R, 2:05, two and a half stars out of four.

James Vanderbilt is a screenwriter who revels in ambiguity. He wrote one of the best films of the ’00s, David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” in which the notorious San Francisco serial killer was maybe-not-quite revealed, but certainly not caught, at the end of the film.

There’s a similar uncertainty as to what’s really going on in the perhaps ironically titled “Truth,” Vanderbilt’s dramatization of the 2004 scandal at CBS over possibly forged documents suggesting that President George W. Bush had used family connections to get out of going to Vietnam. The evidence remains inconclusive either way as to their veracity, but longtime CBS anchor Dan Rather resigned, and his producer Mary Mapes was fired.

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“The Amazing Nina Simone”: A trailblazing musician gets a familiar documentary

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“The Amazing Nina Simone” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. Not rated, 1:42, two stars out of four.

All of a sudden, the movies can’t get enough of Nina Simone. Earlier this year came “What Happened Miss Simone?” a fine, haunting documentary by Liz Garbus that premiered on Netflix. Tentatively set for December is “Nina,” a controversial biopic starring Zoe Saldana as the late jazz singer and David Oyelowo as her aide and confidant.

Coming in between is “The Amazing Nina Simone,” an independent documentary that’s clearly a labor of love from writer-producer-director Jeff L. Lieberman. While “What Happened” relied heavily on audio interviews with Simone and intimate interviews with her daughter Lisa, Lieberman had access to neither.

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“Fidelio: Alice’s Odyssey”: In the middle of the Atlantic, a less than titanic love triangle

A scene in Lucie Borleteau's FIDELIO: ALICE'S ODYSSEY, playing at the 58th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 23 - May 7, 2015.

“Fidelio: Alice’s Odyssey” has its Madison premiere on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St. Not rated, 1:37, two and a half stars out of four. Tickets are free for museum members, $7 for non-members.

“Fidelio: Alice’s Odyssey” opens with an idyllic scene in which lovers swim naked in a secluded cove. The woman, Alice (Ariane Labed) is about to leave for the sea, and the man, Felix (Anders Danielson Lie), draws a picture of her as a mermaid, swimming merrily off as he sobs on the shoreline.

But Alice doesn’t grow scales and a tail, but takes on the shapeless overalls of an engineer on a massive freighter, where she is the only female on board. That opening scene reminds us that, in a world surrounded by men, she is still a woman, which brings a host of complexities on board. It becomes ironic that the ship she’s assigned to is named “Fidelio,” as fidelity turns out to be something of a problem for her.

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“Meet The Patels”: Arrange a date with this soulful and funny documentary

Ravi Patel and his sister, Geeta, worked together on the documentary Meet the Patels, in which Ravi struggles to find a partner both he and his parents love.

Ravi Patel and his sister, Geeta, worked together on the documentary Meet the Patels, in which Ravi struggles to find a partner both he and his parents love.

“Meet the Patels” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. PG, 1:28, three stars out of four.

To modern sensibilities, the idea of an arranged marriage seems arcane, arbitrary, if not downright silly. After all, the modern single person chooses to find a partner in a more modern and scientific way — say, by putting their picture on a stranger’s phone and hoping they swipe left.

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“The Final Girls”: Horror movie spoof takes a trip to Unpleasantville

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“The Final Girls” is now playing on video-on-demand, including ITunes and Amazon Prime. PG-13, 1:28, two stars out of four.

At this point, nearly 20 years after “Scream,” it seems daring to make a horror movie that isn’t a meta deconstruction of the genre. “The Final Girls” aims to play with the campy conventions of ’80s summer-camp slasher movies, especially the “Friday the 13th movies.” But this is more straight comedy than horror comedy, with the scares and violence toned way down for PG-13 consumption. If you’re enough of a horror fan to know what a “Final Girl” is, ironically, you might not be the right audience for it.

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“99 Homes”: Turning the subprime mortgage crisis into prime drama

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“99 Homes” opens Friday at Marcus Palace Cinemas. R, 1:52, three stars out of four.

Ramin Bahrani has made a weird turn as a filmmaker. He started out making elliptical character studies like “Man Push Cart” and “Goodbye Solo.” Now he’s making social-issue dramas with recognizable Hollywood stars that aim to get a few bullet points across along with the drama.

2012’s “At Any Price” tried to show the crisis in modern farming, but was too unfocused and shrill, with dialogue that sounded like people shouting op-eds at each other. But “99 Homes,” which looks at the damage wreaked by the subprime mortgage crisis, is a big improvement.

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“Testament of Youth”: The view from the homefront during World War I

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“Testament of Youth” is now playing at Sundance Cinemas. PG-13, 2:09, three stars out of four. I’ll be doing a post-show chat after the 7:30 p.m. Tuesday show at Sundance Cinemas, 430 N. Midvale Blvd.

“Testament of Youth” is a British period drama as good-looking as any Merchant-Ivory production, but underneath its handsome exterior burns a cold, measured fury. Taken from Vera Brittain’s memoir of being a World War I field nurse, the film brings Brittain’s sorrow and anger at the cost of war intact to the big screen.

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