 Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 27th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour 53 minutes, Rated R Starring: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska, Brendan Gleeson Directed by Rodrigo Garcia (Passengers, Mother and Child) Albert Nobbs will likely draw people to the theater based on the buzz of Oscar nominees Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, who both give terrific performances. Like many award-worthy performances are, these two are trapped within the confines of a mediocre movie, a strange and tedious tale of concealed identity.
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 Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 27th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour 57 minutes, Rated R Starring: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney Co-written, Directed by Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team) The Grey will instantly remind you of the 1993 film, Alive, where a plane crashes and is lost in a cold and snowy barren wasteland, and we find the surviving crew struggling to survive. Instead of it being a rugby team in the Andes, The Grey uses an oil drilling team in the Alaskan wilderness. Characters in The Grey actually reference Alive, winking at the audience all the while, but this self-awareness isn’t enough to rescue The Grey from clichéd mediocrity in the first 90 minutes, and the presence of nearly-laughable, evil CG wolves.  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 20th, 2012 Run Time: 2 hours 5 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Ne-Yo, Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelley Directed by Anthony Hemingway (feauture film debut) There's no question about the historical importance of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American brigade of pilots that fought during World War II. The American military was racially segregated as was most of the country, and the actions and bravery of these "red tails" (a nickname given for having painted all of the tails of their planes red), were actually an important pre-cursor to the civil rights movement that would follow in the coming years. Their story presented as a PG-13 film however, doesn't do justice to the realities of war or the real hardships that these men most assuredly had to overcome.  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Action, Thriller
Opens locally Friday, January 20th, 2012 (check for show times) Run Time: 1 hour 32 minutes, Rated R Starring: Gina Carano, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Bill Paxton Written by Lem Dobbs (The Score, The Limey) Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Contagion, The Informant!, Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Out of Sight) Haywire is a recognizably stylish Steven Soderbergh film, a high-octane and sexy action flick that is just clever enough to be enjoyable. It feels a bit different than most other movies of the genre because it stars a female as the central bad-ass action hero. This super soldier is Mallory, played by Gina Carano, who is a real-life MMA fighter. In Haywire, she puts her skills to use as a black ops agent who has been betrayed by her superiors. She may have what it takes to save herself, but she falls short of saving this very uneven and hollow film.  Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 20th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour 26 minutes, Rated R Starring: Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Charles Parnell, Kim Wayans, Aasha Davis Written & Directed by Dee Rees (feature film debut) Pariah is a small independent film dealing with familiar universal themes. At the same time, it also tackles specific subject matter - a teenage lesbian trying to find her way in the world. Small or otherwise, this is one of the most powerful films in recent release, featuring a relatively unknown ensemble of talented actors and actresses that paint a very stark picture of family and the society in which we live.  Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 20th, 2012 Run Time: 2 hours, Rated PG-13 Starring: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow Based on the 2005 book of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Reader, The Hours, Billy Elliot) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (EL&IC) is sure to stir up more than a few emotions, as it sets the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as the backdrop of the film. But this movie is not about despair and terror, and is not really about 9/11. It is a film about loss, identity, hope and love, seen through the youthful eyes of an adventurous nine-year-old boy.  Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Biography, Drama, Historical
Opens locally Friday, January 20th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour 39 minutes, Rated R Starring: Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassel Written by Christopher Hampton, based on the 2002 play The Talking Cure which was based on the 1993 non-fiction book A Most Dangerous Method by John Kerr Directed by David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence) Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud are considered the founders of modern psychology, a commonplace practice in today’s world. But in the early 1900s, psycho-analysis was a fringe belief, and the idea that mentally-ill patients could be “cured” simply by talking with a doctor was met with widespread skepticism. A Dangerous Method is a story about a severely ill basket-case that is cured using this “dangerous” method of talk treatment, acting also as a biopic of Carl Jung.  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy, Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 13th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour 19 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz Based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza Directed by Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer, The Pianist, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby) It’s no secret that adults sometimes act worse than the children. Carnage is proof. When the film opens up with a wide shot of a group of kids playing in the park, all seems normal. As we watch, one child picks up a stick and whacks another in the face. Who would have thought that this would be the most civil of actions we would witness over the next 80 minutes?  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Biography
Opens locally Friday, January 13th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Macbeth, Mamma Mia!) The Iron Lady is a biopic on the famous historical figure, Margaret Thatcher, who was the first (and only) female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. You'll hear a lot about this film (if you haven't already) due to the brilliant portrayal of Mrs. Thatcher by Meryl Streep, who seemingly gets Oscar nominations by simply appearing on screen. Here, she will have earned it. Unfortunately, her performance isn't enough to make the film worthy of anything more.  2012 Universal Pictures. Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Action, Crime, Drama
Opens locally Friday, January 13th, 2012 Run Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes, Rated R Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Foster, J.K. Simmons Directed by Baltasar Kormakur (The Sea, A Little Trip to Heaven, Jar City) Who knew smuggling could be so much fun! Contraband starts fast and hits hard, delivering a smart and funny action caper that is surely the best film so far in the infantile year of 2012. |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the film critic for WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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