Movie Reviews

'Secret Sharer' skillfully blends mutiny, murder and romance

published by Anonymous on March 17, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s just a noisy old rust-bucket cargo ship in the South China Sea, but Konrad is the proud young Polish captain of it — unexpectedly promoted to his first command by the boat’s wealthy Chinese owner. As he arrives to take charge, it feels like the first day of school. There’s something strange about it, but why question your good fortune?

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'Leviathan' delves into the stark realities of life in a Russian fishing town

published by Anonymous on March 4, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Everybody and everything is vodka-saturated in “Leviathan,” Russia’s Oscar-nominated foreign film entry for 2015.

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'Focus' entertaining, but good pieces don't make satisfying whole

published by Anonymous on February 25, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Nicky Spurgeon runs a kind of Academy of Con Arts and Sciences. The arts involve sleight-of-hand and misdirection. The science is getting people to trust you.

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'Mr. Turner' delivers superb acting, filmmaking

published by Anonymous on February 19, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Revolutionary artists rarely have an easy time of it, and rarely give those around them an easy time, while typically reveling in the turmoil they cause. I’ve thought about Beethoven and Picasso in that regard. But I’m now thinking about J.M.W. Turner, and so will you if you treat yourself to Mike Leigh’s stunningly beautiful biopic, “Mr. Turner.”

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Slick 'Kingsman' well-suited to juveniles

published by Anonymous on February 13, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Welcome to the pseudo-o-o-7 universe — 007.2, if you prefer — in which the classic James Bond film is deconstructed (and “celebrated”) by combining it with today’s dominant comic-book movie genre. For better or worse.

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Oscar-nominated short documentaries outstanding and heavy

published by Anonymous on February 6, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Heavy, heavier, heaviest — plus mega-heavy — would characterize this year’s Oscar-nominated short documentary films, whose subjects include dying mothers, gravely ill babies, suicide and animal slaughter. The quality is exceptionally high, although watching them all together is an emotional challenge.

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Live action beats animated in 2015 Oscar-nominated shorts

published by Anonymous on January 30, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In Oscar categories as well as men’s underwear, there are shorts — and then there are briefs. Some of the live-action and animated mini movies nominated for this year’s Academy Awards are REALLY brief: One of the best runs a grand total of 2 minutes.

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'Blackhat' fails to compute as a great thriller

published by Anonymous on January 16, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I used to think algorithms had something to do with Caribbean music, blissfully unaware they were crucial to computers, let alone terrorism. Now, alas, with Kim Jong Un and Sony ’n’ at, we must all get with the online program of 21st-century warfare, which threatens to destroy society as we know and love-hate it.

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'Inherent Vice' a ball of confusion

published by Anonymous on January 9, 2015 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Raymond Chandler meets Elmore Leonard, Cheech and Chong and Thomas Pynchon’s literary pretensions in the drug haze of the semi-comic detective story “Inherent Vice.”

Time: a quarter past the late ’60s.

Place: Southern California.

'Inherent Vice' movie trailer

In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.

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'My Old Lady' charming at times but slips into melodrama

published by Anonymous on October 10, 2014 - 12:00am

By Barry Paris / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“I was born with a silver knife in my back,” says Mathias Gold, with an abundance of self-pity. But there’s an absence of gold and silver alike in his bank account, which is why he’s in Paris: He just inherited a valuable apartment there (in the 10 million euro range) from his estranged father and has come to claim and cash it in.

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