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
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
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand & Chad Michael Murray
Written & directed by Ryan Coogler
Based on a true story, this film follows the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young African-American who, in 2008, was shot in the back by a white police officer while being detained in handcuffs at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, California.
It’s the racist cops
in America that keep
this cesspool classy.
Grade: B+
c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Fruitvale Station is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334649/
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Toni Collette & Jessica Biel
Screenplay by John J. McLaughlin
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
The story of Alfred Hitchcock’s struggle to make Psycho.
The true Master of
Suspense gets a biopic
that simply has none.
Grade: C
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Hitchcock is playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0975645/
Featuring: Sixto Rodriguez
Directed by Malik Bendjelloul
A documentary about Sixto Rodriguez, who gave up his struggling singer/songwriter career in the 1970s after just two albums, only to discover nearly thirty years later that, in South Africa, he has achieved massive success and is something of a mysterious legend.
Could wherever I’m
famous please let me know now,
not in three decades?
Grade: B+
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Searching for Sugar Man is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125608/
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes & Jackie Earle Haley
Screenplay by Tony Kushner
Directed by Steven Spielberg
During the final months of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln struggles to gain support for the 13th Amendment, which would abolish slavery, and which he believes must be done before the Civil War ends in order to succeed.
…and everyone lived
equally ever after
for all time. [crickets]
Grade: A-
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Lincoln is now playing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443272/
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber & Tate Donovan
Screenplay by Chris Terrio
Directed by Ben Affleck
The true story of a CIA agent who set out to rescue six endangered American diplomats during the Iran Hostage Crisis by creating an elaborate cover that involved posing as the producer of a Hollywood science-fiction film.
On-screen roles aside,
Affleck can direct the f@#%
out of a movie.
Grade: A
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Argo is playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/
Starring: Mike Birbiglia & Lauren Ambrose
Screenplay by Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia & Seth Barrish
Directed by Mike Birbiglia & Seth Barrish
The semi-autobiographical tale of a burgeoning stand-up comedian who feels such pressure to marry his long-time girlfriend that it exacerbates an increasingly dangerous sleep disorder.
Common side-effect
of marriage: hurling oneself
out a closed window.
Grade: B+
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Sleepwalk with Me is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2077851/
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/
Featuring: Kevin Clash
Directed by Constance Marks
The story of Kevin Clash, whose childhood dreams of being a puppeteer led him to becoming the man behind Elmo, one of the most popular children’s characters of all time.
Like the Fuzzy One,
this uplifting doc will put
a smile on your face.
Grade: B+
c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
Being Elmo is now playing in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787660/
The Haiku Review 