Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 526-546 of 5225 results
Starring: Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Coral Browne, Fred Clark, Roger Smith, Patric Knowles, Peggy Cass

Auntie Mame

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: First of all, it's too long. Second, Auntie Mame is adapted from a play and it marked the film debut of theater director Morton DaCosta — both of which conspire to make it feel like canned theater. (The fact that it was made in the 1950s and in Cinemascope — or Technirama, which is the…
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Alec Badwin

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The fifth installment in the Mission: Impossible series — is pretty much what you probably expect. The Lowdown: It's certainly slick and often clever, but it's also too long, and the spectacle of Cruise trying to prove that age has not dimmed his physical prowess gets pretty silly.
Starring: Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis, Callum Keith Rennie, Niamh Wilson, Jakob Davis, Dominique Pinon, Rick Mercer

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: An unusual, lonely 10-year-old runs away from home — and across the country — to accept a prize from the Smithsonian for inventing a perpetual motion machine. The Lowdown: Make all possible haste to catch this magical film because it will be gone by Friday. Everything about it is special.
Starring: John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Woody Strode

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Few films are as deeply flawed yet so wonderful or so essential to a great director’s filmography as John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). I suppose Josef von Sternberg’s The Devil Is a Woman (1935) runs a close second, and for a lot of the same reasons. Both films contain all the…
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky, Ashley Aufderheide, Keir Dullea, Beth Dixon

Infinitely Polar Bear

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Autobiographical account of growing up with a bi-polar father. The Lowdown: Sweet, but not cloying — and carefully dodging the bullet of romanticizing mental illness — this is a remarkably assured debut film from Maya Forbes, with terrific performances helping out.
Starring: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne, Austin Abrams, Justice Smith, Halston Sage, Jaz Sinclair

Paper Towns

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: When the girl he's fixated on disappears, a young man follows the clues she's left behind in order to find her. The Lowdown: Ultimately, the movie doesn't quite work, but most of the cast make up for a lot of the shortcomings.
Starring: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, Sig Arno

The Palm Beach Story

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: The Palm Beach Story (1942) is almost certainly not Preston Sturges’ best film, but it very well might be his funniest. It’s almost certainly his fastest-paced and has a plot device that would have made Shakespeare proud. What we have here is the tale of Gerry (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea), a…
Starring: Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano, Thomas Mann, Ezra Miller, Logan Miller, Tye Sheridan, Nelsan Ellis, Olivia Thirlby

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A filmic recreation of the controversial 1971 psychological experiment of the same name. The Lowdown: Powerful, but decidedly unpleasant, look at the effects of power and the loss of power as evidenced by college students acting out the roles of inmates and prison guards. Strong stuff, but rather flatly made. It succeeds mostly…
Starring: Jason Bateman (voice), Jamie Berard, Alicia Finch Lee, Adam Reed Tucker, Nathan Sawaya, David Pagano

A LEGO Brickumentary

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Documentary about — well, Legos. The Lowdown: How you feel about this documentary is almost certainly going to be determined by your fondness for Legos and the various creative uses to which they can be put. Well made, but definitely specialized.
Starring: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Björnstrand, Margaretha Krook, Jörgen Lindström

Persona

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Calling Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) the filmmaker’s most disturbing film is a pretty bold assertion, but I think it may well be true. It is certainly one of his most difficult films — possibly the most impenetrable film in his entire oeuvre and the most seemingly bizarre. From the moment the film begins — with…
Starring: Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, Pepón Nieto, Carolina Bang, Carmen Maura

Las Brujas de Zugaramurdi (Witching & Bitching)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Alex de la Iglesia's Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi was saddled with the moronic English language title Witching & Bitching — the translation of its Spanish title is The Witches of Zugarramurdi — but don't let that put you off this magnificent mash-up of the kind only Alex de la Iglesia could provide. On the surface, it may…
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Michael Peña

Ant-Man

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Origin story for the Ant-Man character. The Lowdown: Cheeky, good-natured, clever and even a little on the subversive side, Ant-Man is that rarest of comic-book movies — one that manages to be personal and doesn't take itself too seriously. Its only real drawback is the insistence of tying it in with the Avengers…
Starring: Janet Gaynor, George O'Brien, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing, J. Farrell MacDonald

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) has occasionally been called the greatest movie of all time — and while I’m not foolish enough to make such an absolute claim for any film, I will say I can’t think of a better one. I also do believe it to be the greatest silent film ever…
Starring: Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, David Dukes

Gods and Monsters

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Since July 22 is James Whale's birthday, and since James Whale is a key figure in the history of the horror film, the Thursday Horror Picture Show always tries to mark the day. But Whale only made four horror movies. Granted those four — Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man —…
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Taron Egerton, Colin Morgan, Dominic West, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, Hayley Atwell

Testament of Youth

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Biographical film on British pacifist Vera Brittain. The Lowdown: Frequently powerful — sometimes overwhelming — anti-war film that resonates with a certain timeliness even though the war it depicts dates back 100 years. The only problem is it's a little too genteel for its own good.
Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parely, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair

Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) (1946) is quite simply one of the great films. It is also hands down the most completely successful transference of a fairy tale to the motion picture screen. It is a film that has touched and influenced innumerable filmmakers. There are traces of it…
Starring: Robert Gustafsson, Iwar Wiklander, David Wiberg, Mia Skäringer, Jens Hultén, Alan Ford

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The title pretty much says it all, but hardly covers the incidents contained.  The Lowdown: A very funny, very inventive, cheerfully amoral (but warm-hearted) comedy with an unlikely main character — and a collection of only slightly more probable supporting characters. Fast-paced, darkly humorous, endlessly playful and a must-see.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce Altman, Bruce McGill

Matchstick Men

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: There's no denying that Ridley Scott is a stylish director. The question has always been just what that style was. There's no overriding visual or thematic quality to his work in a filmography that has encompassed just about every genre there is — with varying degrees of success. Of no help whatever in…