Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 274-294 of 5225 results
Starring: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Claire McDowell

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: I first saw Fred Niblo’s 1925 silent version of Ben-Hur 44 years ago — a battered, 16 mm bootleg print courtesy of film professor "Knocky" Parker at the University of South Florida. The film was projected at silent speed (an error that made it last for what seemed like three days), looking very scratchy, with obviously missing…
Starring: Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole, Haley Lu Richardson, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan

The Bronze

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A bronze medalist Olympic gymnast — and longtime local celebrity — is forced by circumstances to train a more-promising young contender. The Lowdown: When the film gets past its often noxious first 40 minutes and becomes a more appealing story, this raunchy rom-com comes into its own. But those first 40 minutes can…
Starring: Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel, Eva Green, Anna Chancellor, Robin Renucci

The Dreamers

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: One of the most controversial and sexually frank movies of its decade, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003) is a classic example of a film that’s not for everyone. Fully earning its NC-17 rating, its themes are adult and the use of sex and nudity is pretty unflinching, and should be borne in mind. The story concerns a…
Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Angela Bassett, Radha Mitchell, Jackie Earle Haley

London Has Fallen

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Super Secret-Service agent Mike Banning must save the president from terrorists at the funeral of the British Prime Minister. The Lowdown: A brain-dead, obnoxious, toxic lump of xenophobia, flag-waving, stock footage, crummy CGI, dismal performances and worse writing. The jackpot of bad movies.
Starring: Otto Kruger, Marguerite Churchill, Gloria Holden, Edward Van Sloan, Irving Pichel, Gilbert Emery

Dracula’s Daughter

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Dracula’s Daughter (1936) marked the end of an era: the last of the original 12 Universal horror movies that started five years earlier with Dracula (aptly enough). And it’s never really gotten its due. Sure, it’s not quite the big finish you might wish for. It’s not even the film that was originally planned (that…
Starring: Chris Pine, Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodríguez, Dennis Farina

Bottle Shock

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: A classic example of taking a fairly simple story and bitching it up by grafting on at least two, if not three, unnecessary, unpersuasive and largely inconclusive subplots, Bottle Shock raises the question of whether or not a pretty good movie can be killed by a really bad wig. In this instance, I’m going to…
Starring: (Voices) Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons

Zootopia

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A young female rabbit police rookie has 48 hours to solve a missing persons case with the aid of a possibly untrustworthy fox.  The Lowdown: Gorgeous to look at, clever, funny and with a solid and atmospheric mystery at its core. But there's more here in the film's timely and relevant thematic content.
Starring: (Voices) Daisy Ridley, Dev Patel. Alison Ferandez, Hope Levy, Mona Marshall

Only Yesterday (UPDATED)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Past and present collide when a 27-year-old office worker goes to the country for a vacation and remembers her childhood. The Lowdown: An absolutely magnificent animated romantic drama that captures the essence of how our past informs our present. Touching, funny, realistic and quite wonderful.
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith, Lewis Stone, C. Aubrey Smith

Queen Christina

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Rouben Mamoulian's Queen Christina (1933) is probably the best film the legendary Greta Garbo ever made. It’s certainly in the running, and has two of the most iconic Garbo moments in her entire filmography. The film is more or less a biopic of the 17th-century queen of Sweden, but it’s not that interested in history.…
Starring: Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, Francois Lafarge, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Philippe Asselin

Au Hasard Balthazar

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Gorgeous black-and-white cinematography marks every scene — indeed every shot — of Robert Bresson’s art-house perennial Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), a methodically paced, symbolic film that centers on the life of a donkey named Balthazar. That may not sound like the most appealing material for a feature film, but the key word is “symbolic.” This…
Starring: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham, George Memmoli

Phantom of the Paradise

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Brian De Palma fell into the category of the unruly little brother in the 1970s trio of him, Scorsese and Coppola. He was the one who was more interested in having fun with filmmaking than he was in being controlled or making any kind of a statement. Nothing about tackling “weighty” material seems to…
Starring: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki, Miles Mander

Murder, My Sweet

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Edward Dmytryk's Murder, My Sweet (1944) isn't the first time a Raymond Chandler novel was brought to the screen. In fact, the same source novel (Farewell, My Lovely) had been reconfigured as The Falcon Takes Over two years earlier. But it did mark the first onscreen appearance of Chandler's private detective Philip Marlowe…
Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gerard Butler, Brenton Thwaites, Geoffrey Rush, Chadwick Boseman, Elodie Yung, Rufus Sewell

Gods of Egypt

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Outlandish rival-gods hooey. The Lowdown: It's really big — and really hokey and loud and unconvincing. The most astounding thing is how something this frantic and dumb still manages to be tedious.
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Dickie Moore, Rita La Roy, Robert Emmett O'Connor

Blonde Venus

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Any movie that has Marlene Dietrich clamber out of a gorilla suit, don a blonde Afro and sing “Hot Voodoo” in front of a chorus line of African warrior dancing girls is OK by me — and Josef von Sternberg’s wonderfully preposterous Blonde Venus (1932) is that movie.  It’s everything a Sternberg film should be,…
Starring: Adriana Asti, Julien Bertheau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Adolfo Celi, Milena Vukotic

The Phantom of Liberty

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Apart from the inevitable college screening of Un Chien Andalou (1927), my first acquaintance with Luis Buñuel was made in 1982 at the 47th Street Theater in New York City with a double bill of The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). I’m not sure a more complete full-immersion Buñuel experience is possible. Whether…
Starring: Kristoffer Joner, Thomas Bo Larsen. Ane Dahl Torp, Fridtjov Saheim, Jonas Hoff Oftebro, Arthur Berning

The Wave

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A geologist works against time and skeptics to save people from an impending tsunami in Norway. The Lowdown: Straightforward, solid disaster picture made a little different by its location.
Starring: (Voices of) Vinicius Garcia, Felipe Zilse, Alê Abreu, Lu Horta, Marco Aurelio Campos

Boy & the World

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A little boy leaves his home in country in search of his father. The Lowdown: Less a story than an essay on the evils of modern life — its mechanization, dehumanization, etc. — tied to its thin narrative. Some of it is decidedly impressive, and has earned the film an Oscar nomination. Undeniably…
Starring: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone, Mario Romagnoli, Capucine

Fellini Satyricon

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: The tag line kind of says it all, "Rome. Before Christ. After Fellini." Fellini Satyricon (1969) is Fellini at his most unchecked and unfiltered. Calling the film disjointed is to miss the point, since it was adapted — or perhaps Fellinified — from Petronius' Satyricon, which exists only in fragments. The upshot of…