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A-
|
Mary and Martha
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
The film grows in power, with both Swank and Blethyn engaging a viewer's sympathies through the force of their performances apart and eventually together after a chance meeting.
Posted Oct 08, 2020
|
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B
|
The Girl
(2012)
|
Ed Bark
|
It diminishes him and elevates her. Whether that's what he deserves is debatable. But real truths invariably come out, and this is a film that convincingly rings with them.
Posted Aug 04, 2020
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A
|
Temple Grandin
(2010)
|
Ed Bark
|
As noted, none of this seems like the stuff of riveting drama. It is, though. Still only 30, Danes shows she's now ready and able to take command of any acting challenge put in her path.
Posted Jul 30, 2020
|
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B+
|
Cinema Verite
(2011)
|
Ed Bark
|
Cinema Verite's strength is in dramatizing the off-camera seductions and betrayals that led to the Louds being vilified in many quarters.
Posted Jun 04, 2020
|
|
B+
|
Hemingway & Gellhorn
(2012)
|
Ed Bark
|
Kidman is a certain Emmy nominee and probable winner for this role while Owen might well be invited along for the ride. But she's the one who steels and steals this picture.
Posted Jun 01, 2020
|
|
C
|
A Christmas Carol
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
Frankly, this Ebenezer Scrooge merits his Christmas goose being cooked behind bars for two very serious crimes against humanity. Instead he ends up being at large while at last finding the gumption to say "Merry Christmas."
Posted Dec 17, 2019
|
|
A
|
Deadwood: The Movie
(2019)
|
Ed Bark
|
Deadwood: The Movie reunites the principal characters and serves each of them exceedingly well. Who could ask for anything more?
Posted May 31, 2019
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|
A-
|
What's My Name: Muhammad Ali
(2019)
|
Ed Bark
|
What's My Name doesn't delve into its subject's personal life, focusing only on his career in the ring and his activism outside of it. That's more than enough to easily fill its extended running time.
Posted May 14, 2019
|
|
B-
|
The Highwaymen
(2019)
|
Ed Bark
|
As a film, The Highwaymen has some potholes. But as an eye-catching, promotable and heavily watched attraction, it seems sure to go the extra mile.
Posted Mar 29, 2019
|
|
B+
|
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
It's really not too grand a statement about two guys who lived, breathed and emboldened the printed word.
Posted Feb 14, 2019
|
|
B+
|
My Dinner With Hervé
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
Dinklage excels in a very difficult role to pull off while Dornan keeps pace as his reluctant Boswell. Their love story, is both an entertaining romp and a cautionary tale.
Posted Oct 22, 2018
|
|
F
|
The Last Sharknado: It's About Time
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
It's probably OK to say that airborne sharks again are key to the "story."
Posted Aug 17, 2018
|
|
A-
|
What We Started
(2017)
|
Ed Bark
|
Bouncing between eras and their various beats, while also playing a few heartstrings down the stretch. It's a trip well worth taking, whether you're a devotee of EDM or a neophyte like myself.
Posted Jul 02, 2018
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|
B+
|
Too Big to Fail
(2011)
|
Ed Bark
|
Too Big to Fail effectively follows the money while humanizing most of the moneychangers.
Posted Jun 25, 2018
|
|
B
|
Perry Como Classics: Till the End of Time
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
Como's weekly variety hour had a glow and an impact that still resonates with many Baby Boomer kids who since have outlived him, but not his memory.
Posted Jun 07, 2018
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|
A-
|
John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
The respect and admiration for the cancer-afflicted POW turned Arizona senator is non-partisan and clearly more than pro forma during this 1 hour, 45 minute film.
Posted May 29, 2018
|
|
B+
|
The Tale
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
In this view, its overall story of innocent susceptibility, bogus fulfillment, latter day denial and hard-earned closure triumphs over what Bill does to Jenny in the name of "love."
Posted May 24, 2018
|
|
C-
|
Fahrenheit 451
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
The film isn't much of a read, though.
Posted May 22, 2018
|
|
B+
|
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
HBO's three-and-a-half hour Elvis Presley: The Searcher ... is an evocative documentary without malice.
Posted Apr 16, 2018
|
|
A-
|
Paterno
(2018)
|
Ed Bark
|
The portrayal of Paterno is right up there with Pacino's very best work.
Posted Apr 05, 2018
|
|
C
|
Dirty Dancing
(2017)
|
Ed Bark
|
The new Dirty Dancing, cast with an eye toward diversity, ends up being neither disastrous or necessary.
Posted May 24, 2017
|
|
B
|
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
(2017)
|
Ed Bark
|
Ninety minutes on the origins of the so-called HeLa cell line sound about as dramatically inviting as a teeth-cleaning. But Winfrey's performance, as Henrietta's tormented youngest daughter, Deborah, is jump-off-the-screen terrific.
Posted Apr 21, 2017
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|
A-
|
Maya Angelou and Still I Rise
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
And Still I Rise mostly soars, though, on the wings of Maya Angelou's own words and recollections. She lived a multifaceted life for the ages, overcoming a wealth of indignities while also rising above her own considerable faults and frailties.
Posted Feb 22, 2017
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|
A-
|
Tower
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
Tower is a vivid snapshot of derangement, heroism, endurance and sometimes admitted cowardice on what remains the most traumatic day in University of Texas history.
Posted Feb 14, 2017
|
|
A-
|
The Witness for the Prosecution
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
Although it arguably strings things out a bit too much, this newest Witness is a watchable feast of strong portrayals and mostly sturdy plot threads.
Posted Feb 01, 2017
|
|
B-
|
Beaches
(2017)
|
Ed Bark
|
Lifetime's re-do of Beaches provides a suitably weepy, sometimes sappy, overall entertaining escape.
Posted Jan 19, 2017
|
|
A
|
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
Bright Lights is a much better way to remember them. It wasn't supposed to double as a requiem, but who knew at the time?
Posted Jan 09, 2017
|
|
A
|
The Little Prince
(2015)
|
Ed Bark
|
Beautifully and expressively animated, The Little Prince basically is the story of an old man who still acts like a kid and a kid who's being programmed to be an "essential" cog in the grand industrial, soul-deadening scheme of things.
Posted Aug 05, 2016
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|
|
O.J.: Made in America
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
ESPN's ongoing 5-part, 10-hour O. J.: Made In America documentary series at first brush had the air of redundancy. Instead it's anything but.
Posted Jun 17, 2016
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|
A
|
All the Way
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
This is a riveting film with a bravura performance by Cranston, who's been the signature television actor of the past decade. All the Way again shows there's nothing he can't do -- with the exception of giving a bad performance.
Posted May 20, 2016
|
|
A-
|
Janis: Little Girl Blue
(2015)
|
Ed Bark
|
Janis: Little Girl Blue vividly and often poignantly revisits her short life -- and hard and fast times.
Posted May 04, 2016
|
|
B
|
Confirmation
(2016)
|
Ed Bark
|
Confirmation connects most of the dots of those times while falling short of the dramatic impact left by FX's O.J. Simpson miniseries.
Posted Apr 15, 2016
|
|
B-
|
Bessie
(2015)
|
Ed Bark
|
It fleshes out Bessie Smith to a degree but certainly not in full measure. Latifah and Rainey can sure sing out, though. It's a pleasure to watch and hear them wail in a film that otherwise doesn't quite cut it.
Posted Dec 03, 2015
|
|
C
|
The Unauthorized Full House Story
(2015)
|
Ed Bark
|
A few nice turns by Brawith as Saget aren't enough to make The Unauthorized Full House Movie more than a connect-the-dots, dish-a-little-dirt, spoon-a-little-sugar, cut-print diversion.
Posted Sep 08, 2015
|
|
B+
|
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie
(2012)
|
Ed Bark
|
There's no revisionist lionizing here, but plenty of perspective.
Posted Aug 20, 2015
|
|
C
|
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!
(2015)
|
Ed Bark
|
Given the real-life shark attacks making big news this summer, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! may seem even more redundant than usual.
Posted Jul 22, 2015
|
|
B-
|
Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas
(2014)
|
Ed Bark
|
As holiday newcomers go, this is much better than socks and underwear from Grandma. Just don't expect a shiny new train set.
Posted Dec 16, 2014
|
|
C-
|
How Murray Saved Christmas
(2014)
|
Ed Bark
|
It's way short on charm, labors to be amusing and runs out of gas well before its hour is up.
Posted Dec 05, 2014
|
|
C+
|
Sharknado 2: The Second One
(2014)
|
Ed Bark
|
The overall effect isn't quite intoxicating, and it might be better if you're intoxicated in one form or another.
Posted Jul 29, 2014
|
|
A-
|
The Normal Heart
(2014)
|
Ed Bark
|
The Normal Heart grows in poignancy as characters we've come to know are affected or afflicted by AIDS.
Posted May 22, 2014
|
|
B+
|
The Address
(2014)
|
Ed Bark
|
[It] becomes an instructive and affecting film, although not a true Burns classic. Still, it's nice to him as a fly on the wall in a contemporary setting, with cameras capturing the here and now rather than recycling telling images from long times ago.
Posted Apr 16, 2014
|
|
A
|
Salinger
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
Salinger triumphs, though, as an absorbing portrait of a singular man of mystery.
Posted Jan 28, 2014
|
|
B-
|
Flowers in the Attic
(2014)
|
Ed Bark
|
It all seems fairly preposterous until one takes into account that stranger things have happened in real life.
Posted Jan 16, 2014
|
|
B-
|
Killing Kennedy
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
Killing Kennedy easily could have been twice its length, the better to add both nuance and context. Instead it's a watchable film with many missing parts, a broadly drawn Classics Illustrated version of what happened and why.
Posted Nov 12, 2013
|
|
B
|
American Masters: Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin'
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
What he was really like remains in large part a mystery. In that respect, Hear My Train A Comin' doesn't try to play a gumshoe. Its strengths are Hendrix in action, his guitar on fire whether he set a match to it or not.
Posted Nov 05, 2013
|
|
C-
|
JFK: The Smoking Gun
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
It can't be said -- unfortunately -- that Smoking Gun is bereft of any "entertainment" value.
Posted Oct 30, 2013
|
|
A-
|
Seduced and Abandoned
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
This one seems to effortlessly breathe on its own as a buddy/buddy "road picture" with scenic pathways, a few dead ends and refreshing breezes throughout.
Posted Oct 25, 2013
|
|
A-
|
Burton and Taylor
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
It's a film that asks a lot from West and Bonham Carter, who deliver time and again in roles that could have eaten them alive. Instead we feast.
Posted Oct 18, 2013
|
|
C-
|
Ghost Shark
(2013)
|
Ed Bark
|
Syfy already has a Sharknado sequel set for next summer, but Ghost Shark probably won't have that kind of staying power. It succeeds in being more or less stupidly watchable, but unlikely to prompt anywhere near the same Twitter eruption.
Posted Aug 28, 2013
|
|
C+
|
The 12 Disasters of Christmas
(2012)
|
Ed Bark
|
Viewers who have had their fills of prototypical Christmas movie cheer might want to get into the proper Syfy spirit by priming themselves with their favorite spirits.
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
