Haiku Review: Sinister (2012)

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance & Fred Dalton Thompson
Written by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill
Directed by Scott Derrickson

A true crime author moves into the home where a young girl disappeared after her family was murdered and begins an investigation that uncovers a terrifying truth.


Ethan Hawke gets scared
by pagan snuff films, lack of
career momentum.

Grade: C+


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Sinister is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 2/19/13.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1922777/?ref_=sr_1

(Blu) Haiku Review: The Words (2012)

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde & Zoë Saldana
Written and directed by Brian Klugman & Lee Sternthal

A struggling writer discovers a lost manuscript and publishes it as his own, only to have the true author confront him.


Words fail me at how
The Words fails me. Just try to
give a flying f@#$.

Grade: D+


c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Words is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840417/

(Blu) Haiku Review: Ruby Sparks (2012)

Starring: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould & Chris Messina
Written by Zoe Kazan
Directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris

A lonely, struggling author is stunned when the beautiful ficticious woman he has been writing comes to life.


Kazan’s sparks ignite
burning this star-making turn
right into your heart.

Grade: A-


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Ruby Sparks is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/

Haiku Review: The Master (2012)

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams & Laura Dern
Written & directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

A disturbed, alcoholic World War II veteran is taken under the wing of a charismatic cult leader.


Anderson’s the real
master, but Phoenix deserves
a cult of his own.

Grade: A


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Master is now playing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/

(Blu) Haiku Review: Being Flynn (2012)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Paul Dano, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor & Julianne Moore
Written and directed by Paul Weitz

Based on Nick Flynn’s memior Another Bullshit Night in Suck City about the struggle to find his voice as an author and his troubled relationship with his homeless father.


A bland bio, but
if it keeps De Niro from
doing comedies…

Grade: C+


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Being Flynn is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455323/

Haiku Review: Take This Waltz (2012)

Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby & Sarah Silverman
Written and directed by Sarah Polley

A married woman struggles to remain faithful after meeting her charming and handsome neighbor.


Life often has the
grace of one with two left feet
(and so does this Waltz).

Grade: B-


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Take This Waltz is now playing in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1592281/

(Blu) Haiku Review: Anonymous (2011)

Starring: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis & Derek Jacobi
Written by John Orloff
Directed by Roland Emmerich

Director Roland Emmerich stages an account of the conspiracy theory that the work of William Shakespeare was actually written by the Earl of Oxford.


The Bard gets blasphemed
by a true Hollywood hack.
A real tragedy.

Grade: C-


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Anonymous is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1521197/

Haiku Review: Young Adult (2011)

Starring: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt & Patrick Wilson
Written by Diablo Cody
Directed by Jason Reitman

A young adult novelist returns to her hometown to win back her high school ex-boyfriend, who is now married with a new baby.


Theron makes being
hard to love easy to love.
Antiheroic!

Grade: B+


c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
Young Adult is now playing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1625346/

(Blu) Haiku Review: The Help (2011)

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Cicely Tyson & Sissy Spacek
Written for the screen and directed by Tate Taylor

In 1960s Mississippi, a young woman begins a secret writing project that tells about life from the point of view of several African American housekeepers.


A by-the-numbers
crowd-pleaser that was likely
made to ease white guilt.

Grade: B


c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Help is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/6/11.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/