Hollywood Films
Moneyball, and the uneven playing field of professional sports
By Hiram Lee, October 28, 2011
Filmmaker Bennett Miller turns a critical eye on the American professional sports industry in Moneyball.
From Shakespeare to comic books: Kenneth Branagh directs Thor
By Hiram Lee, May 26, 2011
Thor, directed by actor-director Kenneth Branagh, is this year’s first blockbuster comic book movie.
Source Code and Hanna—two new Hollywood thrillers
By Hiram Lee, May 3, 2011
Source Code and Hanna are among the most recent and, unfortunately, most typical of Hollywood thrillers.
The Lincoln Lawyer: A morally “gray” attorney and his discontents
By David Walsh, April 8, 2011
The Lincoln Lawyer is a thriller-courtroom drama centering on Los Angeles attorney Mickey Haller, directed by Brad Furman (The Take) and adapted from the best-selling 2005 novel by veteran crime writer Michael Connelly.
83rd Academy Awards: Appealing personalities, but they still need something to say
By David Walsh, March 1, 2011
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, held Sunday night in Los Angeles, yielded few surprises, in terms of either the various presentations and special appearances or the winners in the most-prized categories.
Cedar Rapids: Does Hollywood know much about American life?
By David Walsh, February 23, 2011
Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is a sheltered insurance agent from a small town in Wisconsin in Cedar Rapids, a comedy directed by Miguel Arteta.
The Company Men: what the economic crisis has wrought
By David Walsh, February 9, 2011
In The Company Men, writer-director John Wells aims to dramatize the devastating consequences of the financial crash of September 2008.
The 83rd Academy Awards nominations—the worst of times, the best of times
By David Walsh, January 26, 2011
The Academy Awards process, like a good many social events in the US at this point, has a largely ritualistic character. Very little is left to chance, either in the nomination process or the ceremony itself.
David O. Russell’s The Fighter: “Big-hearted” people treated seriously
By Joanne Laurier, January 11, 2011
Set in the early 1990s, the movie fictionally recounts the story of welterweight Micky Ward and his trainer, half-brother Dicky Eklund, as they battle poverty and adversity.
James L. Brooks’ How Do You Know inspires a question in return: Why this film?
By Ramon Valle, January 4, 2011
Well-known filmmaker James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) has directed an insipid, fairly pointless comedy.
Morning Glory: A film about American television, to no great effect
By David Walsh, December 2, 2010
Why do make people make films? Why do people go see them? These questions come up in relation to Morning Glory, a film about the television business, directed by Roger Michell, because it seems such an essentially empty exercise.
Oliver Stone returns to Wall Street
By Hiram Lee, October 7, 2010
In Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, director Oliver Stone once again turns his attention to the crimes of the financial elite, which he first addressed in his 1987 film Wall Street.
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