Snowpiercer (2013), an international production from Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho and a French graphic novel, is a high-speed allegory speeding down the science fiction tracks of genre cinema. That’s the way I like this brand of filmmaking: with the symbols big, muscular, detailed, and punchy. You either give yourself over to the metaphor, in this […]
Tag: Ed Harris
‘The Right Stuff’ on HBO Max
The Right Stuff (1983), Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s acclaimed portrait of the original NASA astronauts, is *the* American epic of the last great frontier and a genuinely romantic take on the first generation of space cowboys. In fact, we know that Kaufman’s heart lays with test pilot cowboy Chuck Yeager, played by Sam […]
‘Gone Baby Gone’ on Amazon Prime Video and Hulu
Ben Affleck made a confident and compelling directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone (2007), his adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s mystery novel about a pair of young private detectives (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) hired to look for the missing daughter of a junkie mother (Amy Ryan, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance). It’s […]
Peter Weir’s ‘The Way Back’ on Hulu
The Way Back (2010), filmmaker Peter Weir’s first film since Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World in 2003, is a protean survival drama with a human grounding. The film was barely seen in theaters, receiving a belated, haphazard release after studio delays and critical neglect. Even with a cast headed by Ed […]
What to stream: ‘Kodachrome’ and ‘Mercury 13’ on Netflix and ‘Loving Vincent’ animates Van Gogh on Hulu
Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Now, Showtime Anytime, FilmStruck, video-on-demand, and other streaming services … Kodachrome (2017, not rated) stars Jason Sudeikis as a record industry burnout who reluctantly joins his estranged, dying father (Ed Harris) for a road trip to the last lab in America […]
George Romero’s ‘Knightriders’ on Shout Factory TV
Knightriders (1981) is easily the gentlest film ever made by George Romero, a romantic story of gypsy bikers who create a kind of traveling Renaissance faire built around the chivalric ideal of an Arthurian court. There’s a streak of the Camelot story played out all in modern times, but on a more intimate, human scale […]
‘Empire Falls’ on Amazon Prime
Empire Falls (2005) – Paul Newman found one of the great roles of his career in the Robert Benton’s film of Richard Russo’s Nobody’s Fool (1994), playing a gently reckless cock-up of a father who gets an unexpected second chance to help his son. So it’s no surprise that he jumped at the chance to […]
Video on Demand: Liam Neeson in ‘Run All Night’
Liam Neeson is back in action in the gritty crime thriller Run All Night, his third and most satisfying collaboration with filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Non-Stop). Neeson once again has a very specific skill set—his nickname isn’t Jimmy the Gravedigger for nothing—but he’s been pickling it in booze for years to drown the guilt of […]