Tag Archives: Steve Carrell

Review: Irresistible

As an American who was only physically present in the U.S. during the Trump administration for, at most, two weeks out of the year, I found former Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s comedy about the foibles of political gamesmanship both … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Review: Beautiful Boy

Kudos to director Felix Van Groeningen for managing to fuse two different memoirs about the same topic into a movie that doesn’t become a mine field of conflicting points-of-view. The true story of Nic Sheff’s decade-plus battle with drug addiction … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Review: Battle of the Sexes

Movies that realistically depict the 1970s force those of us who remember the decade as firsthand observers to slog through several layers of subtext. Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton’s film covers one of the seminal “progressive” events of that time, … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: Last Flag Flying

It would be difficult to make a better military-themed movie than The Last Detail, the 1973 Hal Ashby adaptation of Darryl Ponicsan’s debut novel about two fun-loving sailors escorting a third to the brig for the ignominiuos crime of pilfering … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

February 2015 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the February issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo on January 25. Begin Again Director John Carney tries to recreate the magic that made Once such an unexpected hit. If … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

October 2013 movies

Here are the movie reviews I wrote for the October issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo today. Broken City The kind of movie that Sidney Lumet turned into a cottage industry, this crime drama suffers a bit … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment