Haiku Review: August: Osage County (2013)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin & Benedict Cumberbatch
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by John Wells

After their patriarch goes missing, a dysfunctional family reunites and finds themselves once again at odds with each other and their cancer-stricken, pill-addled mother.


A family so
messed up that incest is the
least of its problems.

Grade: B-


c2014
By Daniel J. Hoag
August: Osage County is playing now in theaters nationwide.
IMDb

 

Haiku Review: All Is Lost (2013)

Starring: Robert Redford
Written & directed by J.C. Chandor

After his boat’s hull is damaged by a stray shipping container, a sailor finds himself lost at sea and facing his own mortality.


It’s like Life of Pi
but without the tiger and
all that faith bullshit.

Grade: A-


c2014
By Daniel J. Hoag
All Is Lost is playing now in select cities.
IMDb

Haiku Review: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver & John Goodman
Written and directed by Joel & Ethan Coen

A struggling musician tries to make end meet in the dwindling folk scene of 1961 Greenwich Village.


Hang in there, Llewyn:
folk will be cool again in
just 50 short years.

Grade: A


c2014
By Daniel J. Hoag
Inside Llewyn Davis is playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2042568/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Haiku Review: Her (2013)

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara & Chris Pratt
Written & directed by Spike Jonze

In the not-so-distant future, a lonely man develops a romantic relationship with his artificially intelligent operating system.


Admit it, after
watching this you tried to have
phone sex with Siri.

Grade: A


c2014
By Daniel J. Hoag
Her is playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Haiku Review: American Hustle (2013)

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K. & Robert De Niro
Written by Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
Directed by David O. Russell

Two swindlers are forced to help an overly ambitious FBI agent, and they soon find themselves neck-deep in political corruption and organized crime.


A comb-over and
bell bottoms would convince me
to do anything.

Grade: A-


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
American Hustle is now playing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800241/?ref_=hm_cht_t4

Haiku Review: Philomena (2013)

Starring: Judi Dench & Steve Coogan
Written by Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
Directed by Stephen Frears

Based on the true story of Philomena Lee, an older Irish woman who went in search of the son whom she was forced to give up for adoption nearly 50 years prior.


Judi Dench battles
evil nuns – what more could you
want from a movie?

Grade: B


C2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Philomena is playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2431286/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Haiku Review: Wadjda (2103)

Starring: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah & Ahd
Written & directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour

A young Saudi girl wants to raise money for a bicycle but finds only discouragement in the religious and political culture around her.


You can’t keep a good
woman down – but whole cultures
sure keep on trying.

Grade: A-


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Wadjda is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2258858/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Haiku Review: Captain Phillips (2013)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi & Catherine Keener
Written by Billy Ray
Directed by Paul Greengrass

The true story of the hijacking of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates in 2009.


Finally a film
about pirates that doesn’t
involve Johnny Depp.

Grade: B+


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Captain Phillips is playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/?ref_=nv_sr_5

Haiku Review: Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

Starring: Léa Seydoux & Adèle Exarchopoulos
Written by Abdellatif Kechiche & Ghalia Lacroix
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche

Adèle is a young woman whose life is transformed when she begins an intense romance with Emma, an attractive artist with blue hair.


So explicit it
brings new meaning to the term
“three-hanky movie.”

Grade: A-


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Blue Is the Warmest Color is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278871/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Haiku Review: Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O’Hare & Steve Zahn
Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

Based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, who, in the 80s and early 90s, set up a distribution ring of experimental and non-FDA-approved medication for desperate and neglected AIDS patients after discovering that he had contracted the disease – and that conventional American treatments were corrupted by poor bureaucracy.


McConaughey is
finally the actor we
all thought he would be.

Grade: A-


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Dallas Buyers Club is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt