Starring: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum & Ann Dowd
Written by Scott Z. Burns
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
When a psychiatrist prescribes an experimental drug to a young woman suffering from terrifying anxiety, the side effects have deadly consequences.
No drug can fight the
depression that will come if
Soderbergh retires.
Grade: B+
c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Side Effects is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2053463/?ref_=sr_1
Directed by Rodney Ascher
This documentary explores numerous conspiracy theories about the hidden meanings that Stanley Kubrick supposedly buried in his 1980 film The Shining.
All work and no play
makes Jack dream up some crazy,
whacked-out ideas.
Grade: B+
c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Room 237 is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085910/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth & Brit Marling
Written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki
A corrupt business tycoon finds the sale of his company threatened while trying to cover up both fraudulent bookkeeping and a scandalous accident.
Hey, it’s hard out there
for a corrupt, entitled
corporate sleazebag.
Grade: A-
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Arbitrage is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/21/12.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764183/
Starring: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Anthony Mackie, Edward Burns & Ed Harris
Written by Pablo F. Fenjves
Directed by Asger Leth
An falsely-accused ex-cop escapes from prison and climbs out on the ledge of a tall building to serve as a distraction while his brother attempts to steal a valuable diamond that might help prove his innocence.
It’s fitting that this
plot resembles the splattered
corpse of a jumper.
Grade: C
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Man on a Ledge is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/29/12.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568338/
Written by Jon Foy & Colin Smith
Directed by Jon Foy
A group of men seek to unravel the mystery behind the Toynbee Tiles, a series of cryptic messages that have appeared on the streets of cities across the U.S. and South America for over three decades.
A real bargain bin
conspiracy theory;
some artist laughs last.
Grade: C
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles is available now on DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787791/
Starring: Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew MacFadyen, Luke Evans & Ray Stevenson
Screenplay by Alex Litvak and Andrew Davies
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
D’Artagnan and the three Musketeers try to stop a deadly conspiracy involving Cardinal Richelieu, the assassin Milday, and the Duke of Buckingham.
It’s all for one, but
one may be for eye-gouging
after watching this.
Grade: C-
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Three Musketeers is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/13/12.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1509767/
Starring: Romola Garai, Dominic West, Ben Whishaw, Anna Chancellor & Oona Chaplin
Written and created by Abi Morgan
Directed by Coky Giedroyc, Harry Bradbeer & Jamie Payne
In this six-part British mini-series set during the Cold War of the 1950s, the producer of a newly-launched topical news program and her best friend, a passionate journalist, become embroiled in a controversial story that involves politics, murder, espionage, and dangerous international conspiracies.
If they thought the news
was biased then, they didn’t
live to see Fox News.
Grade: B+
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Hour is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778108/
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/
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Jesper Christensen, Marton Csokas, Ciaran Hinds & Tom Wilkinson
Screenplay by Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan
Directed by John Madden
The past comes back to haunt three Mossad agents who, in 1966, were assigned to track down a Nazi war criminal hiding in East Berlin.
Helen Mirren finds
Nazis hard to catch in this
solid suspense flick.
Grade: B
c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Debt is available on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226753/
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Marie Windsor & Ted DeCorsia
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick’s time-shuffling account of an ambitious racetrack robbery.
Thank this noir classic:
without it, there would have been
no Reservoir Dogs.
Grade: A-
c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
The Criterion Collection of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049406/
The Haiku Review 