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

Haiku Review: Fruitvale Station (2013)

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/

Haiku Review: Hitchcock (2012)

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/

Haiku Review: Game Change (2012)

Starring: Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris & Sarah Paulson
Written by Danny Strong
Directed by Jay Roach

John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign is both invigorated and challenged when Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is chosen to be the vice presidential candidate.


Moore’s great, you betcha!
Do you think Palin can see
regret from her house?

Grade: A-


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Game Change is now playing on HBO.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1848902/

Haiku Review: The Loving Story (2011)

Written by Nancy Buirski & Susie Ruth Powell
Directed by Nancy Buirski

Set during the tumultuous Civil Rights movement, this documentary tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who were repeatedly arrested and forced to leave the state of Virginia for being married at a time when it was forbidden for whites and blacks to marry.


Forbid certain folks
from marrying? Good thing that
doesn’t happen now!

Grade: B


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Loving Story is now playing on HBO.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1759682/

Haiku Review: The Iron Lady (2011)

Starring: Meryl Streep & Jim Broadbent
Screenplay by Abi Morgan
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd

The story of the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister.


Lesson: change the world,
trailblaze, but you’ll still end up
lonely and senile.

Grade: C+


c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Iron Lady is now playing in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1007029/

Haiku Review: My Week with Marilyn (2011)

Starring: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson & Judi Dench
Written by Adrian Hodges
Directed by Simon Curtis

Based on the memoir of a young film industry lackey who spent a week befriending a troubled Marilyn Monroe while she was in England to make a movie with Sir Laurence Olivier.


Come for Williams, who
explodes as the blonde bombshell,
seductive yet frail.

Grade: B-


c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
My Week with Marilyn is now playing in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655420/

Haiku Review: J. Edgar (2011)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench & Armie Hammer
Written by Dustin Lance Black
Directed by Clint Eastwood

The story of one of the most powerful and controversial figures of the 20th century, J. Edgar Hoover, a visionary in law enforcement and criminology, and a man who spent so much of his life compiling the secrets of others that his own secrets almost destroyed him.


Hoover would have dug
a helluva lot deeper
than these bullet points.

Grade: B-


c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
J. Edgar is now showing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1616195/

(Blu) Haiku Review: The Conspirator (2011)

Starring: James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Danny Huston & Justin Long
Screenplay by James Solomon
Directed by Robert Redford

After Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, a war hero reluctantly agrees to defend the lone female accused of being part of the conspiracy before a military tribunal.


A plodding pace and
a lecturing tone will put
your patience on trial.

Grade: C


c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Conspirator is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0968264/

(Blu) Haiku Review: Kill the Irishman (2011)

Starring: Ray Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken & Linda Cardellini
Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and Jeremy Walters
Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh

Based on the true story of Irish mobster Danny Greene, who, in the 1970s, waged a turf war in Cleveland against the Cosa Nostra, and survived countless assassination attempts to become known as the one man the mafia couldn’t kill.


The fighting Irish:
better than a couple years
of The Sopranos.

Grade: B


c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
Kill the Irishman is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/14/11.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1416801/