Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 547-567 of 5225 results
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, Scott Kolk, Slim Summerville

All Quiet on the Western Front

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Lewis Milestone's Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) was by no means the first anti-war film, but it may well still be the most powerful. It is certainly the first such film — at least from Hollywood — to show WWI (still just The Great War at the time) from the…
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, John Van Eyssen

Dracula (Horror of Dracula)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Dracula -- or Horror of Dracula as we know it in the U.S. -- is the second of the Hammer horrors—it follows Fisher’s Curse of Frankenstein (1957)—and it may be said to be the movie that cemented Hammer’s status as the “house of horror.” It certainly sealed Christopher Lee’s fate as the iconic Count Dracula…
Starring: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley

Show Boat

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: In honor of James Whale's birthday, the Asheville film society is running Show Boat. Long suppressed by MGM — to avoid it being compared to their tacky 1951 version — Whale's 1936 film of the classic Broadway show, Show Boat, is far and away the best version ever made. Much more faithful to the show…
Starring: Laurent Terzieff, Aurelle Doazan, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Natalie Baye, Claude Brasseur

Detective

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Minor and lesser Godard that isn't going to be to everyone's taste. (Much the same could be said of Godard in general.) This is actually one of the frequently impenetrable filmmaker's works. Ostensibly, it was made in order to get the money to make another film and might be viewed as a work…
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Natalie Martinez, Matthew Goode, Ben Kingsley, Victor Garber, Derek Luke, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen

Self/less

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Dying billionaire gets a second chance at life through a secret and very costly process that puts his brain in a new body. The Lowdown: Pretty basic mind-swapping premise that turns into a convoluted action thriller. Entertaining enough, but insubtantial and I'm willing to bet unmemorable.
Starring: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan, Roger Allam

Mr. Holmes

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A tale of the great Sherlock Holmes at the end of his life as he battles the loss of his faculties and tries to piece together the case that caused him to retire. The Lowdown: An absolutely beautiful film on every level. This is small work that feels anything but as it moves…
Starring: (Voices) Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders

Minions

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The Minions are traced through the history of the world leading to 1968 Swinging London. The Lowdown: Packed with period songs and with a refreshingly unsentimental anarchic vibe, this could have been great. Unfortunately, it is seriously wanting in the villain department.
Starring: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack, Eddie Izzard

Shadow of the Vampire

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow of the Vampire (2001) is a film that offers a very fantasticated story about Murnau (John Malkovich) making Nosferatu in 1922. Shadow has long held a special place for me because it was the first new release I reviewed for the Xpress to earn a full five stars — a rating I see no…
Starring: Karuna Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Pinaki Sengupta, Smaron Ghosal

Aparajito (The Unvanquished)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: At once poetic and grittily realistic, sophisticated and crude, Aparajito (1957) marks the second film in Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. It is similar to the first film in that it feels less like a movie than like spending time in another life and another world. However, Ray learned much in the two years…
Starring: Roger Livesey, Anton Walbrook, Deborah Kerr, Roland Culver, Harry Welchman, Arthur Wontner

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: The original Colonel Blimp was the central figure in a series of British comics — a blowhard caricature of the English "fire-eater" military man. The character presented in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) only starts as that caricature (never called Blimp in the film), after…
Starring: Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Barbara Ewing, Barry Andrews

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: It was inevitable that a series devoted to horror pictures would run a movie to note the death of Christopher Lee. Rather than draw from the list of the more highly regarded of his Hammer horrors, it was decided to go with something just slightly off the beaten path — Dracula Has Risen from the…
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Byung-hun Lee

Terminator Genisys

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Kyle Reese is sent back from the future to protect Sarah Connor from the Terminator and to re-write history, only to find out it's already been re-written. The Lowdown: Amazingly silly stuff that mostly gets by by allowing itself to be amazingly silly — at least most of the time. Vaguely set up…
Starring: Amy Winehouse, Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), Mark Ronson, Tony Bennett, Blake Fielder-Civil, Mitch Winehouse

Amy

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The story of Amy Winehouse as told in archival footage and home videos.  The Lowdown: A powerful, but not always comfortable portrait of a seemingly inevitable tragedy told with uncommon immediacy.
Starring: Mary Pickford, Ida Waterman, Herbert Standing, Conway Tearle, Marcia Manon, Josephince Crowell, Teddy the Sennett Dog, Gustav von Seyffertitz

Stella Maris

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: On the one hand, Marshall Neilan's Stella Maris is almost exactly what you expect stylistically from a 1918 (actually made in 1917) film — apart from its startling final shot. It's all done with a nailed-down camera, though shrewdly broken down in editing to keep it from feeling static, so that it's also…
Starring: William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard, Donald Madden, John Cullum

1776

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: High on the list of "For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they will like" is Peter H. Hunt's 1776. I freely admit I am not among their number. I watched 1776 once, after years of having avoided it, thanks to a high school classmate who…
Starring: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson

The Passion of Anna

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: World Cinema is revisiting this frequently overlooked Ingmar Bergman film. The U.S. title, The Passion of Anna, of The Passion (1969) is misleading, since it’s difficult to conclude that the film is really about Anna’s (Liv Ullmann) passion. Perhaps the American distributor simply thought it sounded sexier. In any case, the film is one of…
Starring: James Booth, Roy Kinnear, Marisa Mell, Alita Naughton, Bryan Pringle, Sandor Elès

French Dressing

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: In honor of Ken Russell's 88th birthday, the Asheville Film Society is screening the filmmaker's rarely seen — never officially released in the U.S. — first feature, French Dressing (1964). Beating the British Film Invasion proper by a few months, this charming little seaside comedy romance is very, very British, but it also underscores…
Starring: Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godrèche

The Overnight

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A couple newly arrived in L.A. accept a dinner invitation from someone who very well may have ulterior motives. The Lowdown: Though marketed as a comedy, The Overnight isn't all that funny. It's, in fact, better at being disconcerting. While not without its strong points, the film is too meandering and vague in…