Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 295-315 of 5225 results
Starring: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice, Harry Andrews

Moby Dick

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: If we must have a film of Moby Dick (and it seems we must), then John Huston's 1956 film is probably the best we're going to get. It offers a reasonable approximation of the story in terms that can best be described as operatic. No, it has little subtext, but it's strong stuff…
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Peter Firth, Cliff Curtis, Stewart Scudamore

Risen

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The story of the period right after the death of Christ from the point of view of a Roman charged with finding Christ's body. The Lowdown: Better acting and directing than most faith-based films, but it ultimately sells its own premise short by being too easy, and too obvious, too soon.
Starring: Carmen Maura, Angel de Andrés-López, Chus Lampreave, Verónica Forqué

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: A much-beleaguered housewife addicted to No-Doze, a drug-dealing son, a crazy mother-in-law with a pet lizard, a son traded to a pedophilic dentist for the bill, a prostitute across the hall, a scheme to forge Hitler’s memoirs, a suicidal low-rent Lotte Lenya, kleptomania, murder (with a soupçon of Hitchcock), even a spot of…
Starring: Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews, Spring Byington, Lawrence Grant

Werewolf of London

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Perhaps because it lacks a big horror star or a cult director, Stuart Walker’s Werewolf of London (1935) has never received quite the acknowledgement it deserves — despite the fact that it’s the first werewolf movie ever made. What’s particularly unfortunate about this is, for my money, Werewolf of London remains the best werewolf picture of all…
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic

Deadpool

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A wisecracking, foul-mouthed superhero is out for revenge on the man who turned him into his present disfigured state. The Lowdown: Lavishly vulgar, completely disrespectful, gratuitously bloody — and an awful lot of tasteless fun if you're not turned off by those things.
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie, Leslie Mann, Rebel Wilson, Anders Holm, Damon Wayans Jr., Jake Lacy

How to Be Single

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Multiple stories — all built around Dakota Johnson going to New York to learn what it's like to be single. The Lowdown: It's not terrible, but neither is it especially good. It's mostly just innocuous.
Starring: James Ellison, Heather Angel, John Howard, Bramwell Fletcher, Heather Thatcher

The Undying Monster

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: The Undying Monster (1942) is one of the most curious of all werewolf movies — mostly because it offers so very little werewolfery. Truth to tell, it's fairly typical of Fox's rather limited forays into the horror genre. It's very well made. The cast is solid. The production values are top notch (thanks in…
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, Louise Carter, Lucien Littlefield

Broken Lullaby

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Something very different from the great Ernst Lubitsch: a straight anti-war film made in the midst of his busiest year as a filmmaker. Yes, in 1932, the same year that he gave us the shimmering comedies One Hour with You and Trouble in Paradise (not to mention his segment in If I Had a Million), he made…
Starring: Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Roger Allam, Frances de la Tour, Jim Broadbent, Gwen Taylor

The Lady in the Van

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The improbable, but "mostly true" story of a homeless woman who spent years living in playwright Alan Bennett's driveway. The Lowdown: A charming, touching, absolutely delightful comedy-drama with a terrific Maggie Smith performance — and an equally fine turn from Alex Jennings.
Starring: Irene Jacob, Halina Gryglaszewska, Philippe Volter, Jerzy Gudejko, Claude Duneton

The Double Life of Veronique

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Until this past weekend, I had never seen Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique (1991) and was in no way prepared for it. And on one viewing I do not really feel like I can review it — certainly I cannot in any depth. This is a strange, almost hypnotic film. It…
Starring: Jeni Courtney, Mick Lally, John Lynch, Eileen Colgan

The Secret of Roan Inish

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: An unusual film to come from indie filmmaker John Sayles, The Secret of Roan Inish is completely out of keeping with the generally cynical tone of his other work. Sayles is the last person on Earth you’d expect to be making a “family film,” but that might be part of the reason this 1995 film…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler February 10-16: How to Invade Zoolander Deadpool Next

Posted on by Ken Hanke

In Theaters. This week’s Next Big Thing would seem to be wisecracking, R-rated superhero I freely admit to never having heard of prior to this movie. But there’s also the new Michael Moore documentary, a sequel I’m not sure anyone asked for, and something I’m pretty sure nobody asked for. While the Coen Brothers’ latest […]

Starring: Henrik Malberg, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Birgitte Federspiel, Cay Kristiansen

Ordet

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: It is sobering to realize that Ordet (1955) — a film about madness, religious intolerance, a stillborn child, death and maybe a miracle — is probably Carl Theodore Dreyer's sunniest film. That says a lot about Dreyer's filmography, and while I do not doubt his greatness or his importance as a filmmaker, he's…
Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehreneich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum

Hail, Caesar!

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Studio head and "fixer" Eddie Mannix tries to hold things together — and keep them out of the papers — when a big star is kidnapped. The Lowdown: The Coen Brothers in a gleefully playful mood with a film that at once spoofs and honors the last days of the old Hollywood. It's…
Starring: Michael Moore

Where to Invade Next

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Michael Moore goes on a world tour to see how other countries handle education, health care, banking, business, etc. — in search of ideas to bring back to the U.S.  The Lowdown: Lighter than usual Moore documentary that operates in an unusually upbeat manner for the usually more provocative filmmaker.
Starring: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Simone Simon, Danielle Darrieux, Fernand Gravey, Isa Miranda

La Ronde

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Stylistically, the films of Max Ophuls are certainly of a piece, in a similar tone of voice. All of them could be summed up with the same phrase used by the narrator (Anton Walbrook) of La Ronde (1950) when he explains that the story is set in 1900 Vienna: "I adore the past. It is…
Starring: Enrique Rambal, Abel Salazar, Martha Roth, Ofelia Guilmáin, Ana Laura Baledon

The Man and the Monster

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Long on atmosphere, short on logic, and generally a lot of fun — either despite or because of one of the dumbest werewolf makeup designs ever — The Man and the Monster (1959) is fairly typical of Mexican horror films of the late 1950s and early 1960s. These movies were given short shrift for…
Starring: Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Dorothy Lamour, Elizabeth Patterson, Raymond Walburn, Charles Bickford, Akim Tamiroff

High, Wide and Handsome

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: The AFS tried to run this last year, but the weather was against it. Maybe there'll be better luck this time. ... Rouben Mamoulian did his most important work at Paramount, but he left the studio in 1933. In 1937, he came back for one more film: the little-seen and mostly forgotten High, Wide and…
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson, David Thewlis, Devon Bostick, Aaron Ashmore, Dale Dickey

Regression

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A detective investigating a child abuse case uncovers what appears to be a far-reaching Satanic cult. The Lowdown: By no means the disaster (at least artistically) it's been painted as, this is an unusual horror movie — one that critiques and subverts its own genre, and one that seems to alienate a lot of…
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells, David Sibley, Sam Alexander

45 Years

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A marriage of 45 years is threatened by the shadows of events that preceded it. The Lowdown: Deliberately paced and relying heavily on the viewer to pick up on nuance, but paying big dividends for those open to it. Charlotte Rampling fully deserves that Oscar nomination, but so did the overlooked Tom Courtenay.