Tomato 2.0/5 |
...Around (2009) |
"...Around, which has the tagline Embrace the Fall, is more hopscotch than a fall. Spaltro's writing and direction could use a sharper edge, but he knows how to create arresting images." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) |
"The Comic Sense of 2001" |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 2.0/5 |
Adventureland (2009) |
"The best part of Adventureland is the acting... But the direction and writing limit the actors. Mottola, who directed and co-wrote Superbad (2007), chooses the easy way, backing off anything threatening in his amiable movie." |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 2.0/5 |
Angels & Demons (2009) |
"Angels and Demons performs a miracle. It makes 2 hours seem like 4 hours. Like a lot of religion itself, Angels and Demons should be so much more than it is." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Aviator (2004) |
"Ten Favorite Scorsese Films" |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Ben-Hur (1959) |
"Charlton Heston has acted in nearly 100 films; he received the best actor Oscar for Ben-Hur in 1959, the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1977, and the Screen Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Big Sleep (1946) |
"Audio Interview with Leigh Brackett. Listen to an audio interview with Leigh Brackett (MP3 format, approximately 70 minutes)." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Bliss (2007) |
"Set in an intriguing locale, based on an important novel, Bliss is the tale of diverse culture and sharp -- sometimes brutal -- conflicts. It is a voyage of coming to grips with the challenging cultural mix of tradition and modernity." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.5/5 |
The Boys Are Back (2009) |
"The Boys Are Back is a poignant and rowdy celebration of a broken family dealing with grief and drastic change. It has a lame title and a rambling story, but it also has an outstanding performance by Clive Owen and beautiful Australian scenery." |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 2.0/5 |
The Brothers Bloom (2009) |
"The Brothers Bloom jerks us around without end. The cons and twists pile up like debris. If The Brothers Bloom had one more twist I would have screamed." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 5.0/5 |
Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) |
"Altman and crew have done the necessary reorganizing and reediting on Buffalo Bill and have created a terrific movie out of the troubled dust of what was. The first time I saw the movie in New York, it was explicit, contrived, and needed a lot of help." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) |
"I was distressed when at a press conference in May [1976], director Robert Altman said absolutely that there wouldn't be changes made in the ending of Buffalo Bill and the Indians. I guessed that there would be changes made, and there were." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Chinatown (1974) |
"Top Ten Movie Endings" |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 5.0/5 |
Chinatown (1974) |
"Is Chinatown the best private eye film ever? It may well be. Nearing its thirty-fifth anniversary, it deserves a reconsideration and a celebration." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Citizen Kane (1941) |
"The Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll: 1992" |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.5/5 |
Coco Before Chanel (2009) |
"In Coco Before Chanel, Audrey Tautou coolly charms as the designer in her formative years. On a scale of 8, the film is a Chanel #5." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Crossroads (2002) |
"Arbiters of Taste" |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Da Vinci Code (2006) |
"Censorship" |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Darling (1965) |
"John Schlesinger's Darling is a film of excessive and self-defeating brilliance." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Dick Tracy (1990) |
"Audio Interview with Richard Sylbert (MP3 format, approximately 67 minutes). Won Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Oscar for Dick Tracy." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 4.0/5 |
Dirty Harry (1971) |
"Don Siegel's Dirty Harry is an apt example of a film with a vision that few people perceive beyond its violent, flamboyant surfaces. If director Siegel might be a bit uncomfortable with a close reading of his movie, he also might be pleased that the..." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
District 9 (2009) |
"District 9 is a ferocious fable. Potent and provocative, it is an allegory for our time. It is bursting with contemporary themes -- oppression, greed, power, propaganda, and the conflict of disparate cultures." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) |
"Sex and Dr. Strangelove" |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 2.0/5 |
Duplicity (2009) |
"Duplicity is a lazy movie about corporate espionage. It's lazy because its director/writer Tony Gilroy relies on easy gimmicks and lame conventions to tell his tale. [He] uses techniques that might enliven home movies; they deaden a theatrical one." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Earthquake (1974) |
"Charlton Heston was my first major interview. It also was the first movie set I visited. The interview was in Heston's trailer on the set of Earthquake." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Emperor of the North (1973) |
"A Conversation with Lee Marvin. Listen to a conversation with Lee Marvin (MP3 format, approximately 9 minutes) about music, film, and his work. Circa 1973." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) |
"Movie Venues" |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.0/5 |
Fame (2009) |
"Burnett's script almost sinks Fame, but the voice of Naturi Naughton, the heart of Dutton, and the energy of Tancharoen give it a pulse. Fame is erratic, but it definitely has a beat." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Family Plot (1976) |
"... full of allusions to past Hitchcock. A car is parked on Bates Avenue; a gas station man tells a cab driver it is dangerous to light a match; the kidnapers tell each other how danger makes them tingle; and the female kidnaper used a blonde wig." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Family Plot (1976) |
"Audio Interview with Alfred Hitchcock. The Hitch interview was one of two in which I was a bit intimidated. (The other, of course, was Sam Peckinpah.) A critic friend of mine had interviewed Hitch and said the master had led him to a freezer, and he ..." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) |
"Fantastic Mr. Fox is a smart, droll animated film that may not be for everybody, but it has charm and panache." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.0/5 |
Funny People (2009) |
"Funny People is an odd mixture of humanity, vulgarity, and soap opera. At its best, it is an engaging character study. At its worst, it is a crass, self-indulgent home movie." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.0/5 |
G-Force (2009) |
"When I review movies, I ask myself... "does the movie do what it set out to do?" G-Force set out to be an entertaining family movie that makes money. On that basis, G-Force succeeds." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Graduate (1967) |
"Anti-Establishmentism Lives!" |
Tony Macklin |
- |
Gran Torino (2008) |
"Clint Eastwood's Spiritual Journey" |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) |
"The Grapes of Wrath: The Values of John Ford and John Steinbeck" |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.0/5 |
The Hangover (2009) |
"The Hangover is nothing special. It's a fair-to-middling bombardment of humor thrown against the wailing walls of Las Vegas. It misses as much as it hits." |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) |
"Happy-Go-Lucky is flibbertigibbet cinema. Mike Leigh directed Sally Hawkins in this paean to a peahen. Mike Leigh, let me introduce you to Fran Drescher, Kathy Griffin, and Nancy Grace. They're your kind of women." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) |
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is an intoxicating potion of teenage hormones and evil spirits. Both are raging." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 4.0/5 |
Images (1972) |
"It is a rare film that can entice me to surrender my logic, but Images does just that. [It] is a film in which Altman doesn't worry about defenses. He boldly creates a spiritual vision and lets logic and caution fall by the wayside of wondrous beauty." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.5/5 |
Inglourious Basterds (2009) |
"Inglourious Basterds is a mixture that some will think is a masterpiece; others will think it an audacious hodgepodge. I think I'm among the latter." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Invincible (2006) |
"Invincible is the story of Vince Papale, who was an actual figure -- a part-time bartender who went to a tryout, survived training camp, made the Eagles team, and became a Philadelphia legend." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Julie & Julia (2009) |
"Julie & Julia is a scrumptious delight... a vivacious pleasure. In the word of both Julie and Julia: Yum." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 2.5/5 |
The Last Picture Show (1971) |
"The Last Picture Show is competent movie-making and probably deserves an audience. But its predictability and its calculation mar it for me. The values seem to me to be more contrived humanity instead of the real thing." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Long Goodbye (1973) |
"Audio Interview with Leigh Brackett. Listen to an audio interview with Leigh Brackett (MP3 format, approximately 70 minutes)." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Maltese Falcon (1941) |
"There's Only One Maltese Falcon" |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 4.0/5 |
The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) |
"If you want to go into another world in which imagination leads you into recesses and crevices you haven't visited, The Man Who Fell To Earth is a fantastic guide." |
Tony Macklin |
- |
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) |
"A Conversation with Lee Marvin. Listen to a conversation with Lee Marvin (MP3 format, approximately 9 minutes) about music, film, and his work. Circa 1973." |
Tony Macklin |
Splat 2.0/5 |
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) |
"The Men Who Stare at Goats has no edge. [It] is merely a slight, innocuous diversion. It depends on how tolerant you are of such meanderings as to how much you will enjoy it." |
Tony Macklin |
Tomato 3.0/5 |
Milk (2008) |
"Penn's comments at the 2008 Oscars might have been needed if it weren't for a previous statement by Dustin Lance Black who sensitively and appealingly, made an acceptance speech in which he spoke very personally about the pain of being gay as a youth." |
Tony Macklin |