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
Starring: Metallica, Dane DeHaan
Written by Nimród Antal & Metallica
Directed by Nimród Antal
3D IMAX concert footage of Metallica is interspersed with a dark fantasy narrative about a roadie sent on an urgent mission for the band.
Somewhere Dave Mustaine
shakes his fist over a failed
Vic Rattlehead flick.
Grade: B+
c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
Metallica: Through the Never is playing now in select cities.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2172935/?ref_=sr_1
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Ivanir, Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken & Imogen Poots
Screenplay by Yaron Zilberman and Seth Grossman
Directed by Yaron Zilberman
When their cellist announces his retirement, the members of a world-renowned string quartet find themselves confronting interpersonal turmoil.
These maestros do play
harmoniously, but this
tune lacks bravura.
Grade: B
c2013
By Daniel J. Hoag
A Late Quartet is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226240/?ref_=sr_1
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: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D’Arcy, Susan Sarandon & Hugh Grant
Written and directed by Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer
Individual lives impact and influence each other throughout six stories set during the past, present and future.
Six stories each linked
by human connection and
distracting makeup.
Grade: B
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Cloud Atlas in playing now in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371111/
Starring: Diego Boneta, Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Bryan Cranston, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul Giamatti & Malin Akerman
Screenplay by Justin Theroux and Chris D’Arienzo and Allan Loeb
Directed by Adam Shankman
Two young singers fall in love amidst the backdrop of the 1980’s rock music scene.
Ride “Crazy Train” to
Campy Town. It’ll Rock you
like a drinking game.
Grade: C
c2012
By Daniel J. Hoag
Rock of Ages is now playing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1336608/
Starring: Conan O’Brien & Andy Richter
Directed by Rodman Flender
This documentary follows Conan O’Brien, recently ousted from The Tonight Show, as he hits the road for a 32-city music-and-comedy show, entitled “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.”
Coco entertains,
but I wish we’d seen deeper
into that red head.
Grade: B
c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/13/11.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1864288/
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates & Adrian Brody
Written & directed by Woody Allen
A writer on vacation in Paris finds himself transported every midnight to the 1920s and finds inspirtation among the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter and Gertrude Stein.
Nostalgic Woody,
every bit the artistic
genius himself, charms.
Grade: A-
c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
Midnight in Paris is now playing in theaters nationwide.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/
Starring: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor & Brad Garrett
Screenplay by Dan Fogelman
Directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno
A dashing thief meets a princess with magical hair in Disney’s reimagining of the story of Rapunzel.
Above average
for a non-Pixar Disney
(So princess-dependent)
Grade: B+
c2011
By Daniel J. Hoag
Tangled is available on Blu-ray and DVD today.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, 2010.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398286/
By Daniel J. Hoag
The 83rd Academy Awards have come and gone and the Haiku Review has some final thoughts and reactions to the festivities.
So many movies
were more deserving of Best
Pic than The King’s Speech.
I hope Tom Hooper
has trouble sleeping at night
cause FINCHER GOT ROBBED!
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