Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 1597-1617 of 5225 results
Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Samuel West, Olivia Colman, Olivia Williams

Hyde Park on Hudson

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: In the midst of his burgeoning affair with a distant cousin, FDR has to entertain visiting British royalty on a mission to involve America in World War II. The Lowdown: Pleasant, but very slight comedy-drama helped by several strong performances.
Starring: Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Hugh Griffith

Oliver!

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Winner for Best Picture — and Director, Art Direction, Music, and Sound — Carol Reed's Oliver! was a big crowd-pleaser in 1968. It was big and colorful. It was impeccably cast. And it was filled with catchy songs that most of us had been hearing on the radio or TV variety shows ever…
Starring: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, Ángela Molina, José Sancho, Penélope Cruz

Live Flesh

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Perhaps Pedro Almodóvar's most overlooked and underrated film, Live Flesh (1997) is also quite possibly one of his most personal works in that it uses its complex neo-noir storyline of infidelity, guilt, duplicity and mutual destruction to reflect upon both the Franco-controlled Spain into which he was born and the modern Spain in…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler January 2-8: Promised Hyde Park Chainsaw

Posted on by Ken Hanke

Now that the studios have finished putting their supposed best feet forward for Christmas—two cheesy cash-grabs and one re-issue notwithstanding—it’s back to business as usual. Oh, sure there are some limited release things waiting in the wings that will be doled out to us in the coming weeks, but when all is said and done, the studios’ January White Sale is upon us—as demonstrated by this week’s notion of a mainstream offering.

Starring: The Four Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres, Edgar Kennedy

Duck Soup

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: The Marx Brothers' fifth and final film for Paramount Pictures is far and away the best and most manic movie they ever made. It's a film that hits the ground running and never lets up for its entire length. A political comedy (with occasional elements of actual satire), Duck Soup finds Grouch being…
Starring: Abel Salazar, Ariadna Welter, Germán Robles, Yerye Beirute, Alicia Montoya, Carlos Anciera

The Vampire’s Coffin (El Ataúd del Vampiro)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: It's the exciting sequel to the first big Mexican horror hit, El Vampiro (The Vampire), and while it may not quite be up to its prequel, it's not anything to be dismissed lightly. Four of the stars from the first film are back and the story adheres fairly closely to the lines of…
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo, Werner Herzog, Robert Duvall

Jack Reacher

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: An ex-military investigator is called in to investigate a sniper killing. The Lowdown: Tom Cruise is certainly miscast, but he manages to mostly pull off the title role in this entertaining, but not very special action thriller with mystery elements.

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler December 25-January 1:  Short and (Maybe) Sweet

Posted on by Ken Hanke

Merry Christmas and welcome to the shortest column ever. Well, it’s not my fault that the studios opted to open everything by Christmas, but it resulted in everything about this week’s releases being in last week’s “Reeler”—and, in some cases, even the reviews have run. In short, there is no news. Whether it is true that no news is good news remains to be seen. But, hey, what there is, you’re getting early.

Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Frank Lawton, Beulah Bondi, Violet Kemble Cooper, Walter Kingsford

The Invisible Ray

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Karloff and Lugosi star as rival scientists who join forces on an African expedititon where Karloff discovers a powerful new element — one that poisons him, makes him glow in the dark and gives him a touch that means instant death to others. Beautifully crafted horror classic — one of the first to…
Starring: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff, Howard Vernon

Alphaville

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965) is simply one of the damndest things you're ever likely to see. Godard took a popular noir-ish detective, Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine), and plopped him into a nightmarish sci-fi movie that seems to be part serious, part satire — or possibly one huge practical joke. Is Godard serious or…
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne

Les Miserables

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Film version of the immensely popular stage-show musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. The Lowdown: Fans of the show will probably rejoice. The uninitiated may feel differently about this extremely long, over-emphatic and self-serious film version.
Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Stick-in-the-mud hobbit Bilbo Baggins allows himself to be coerced into joining a group of dwarves, along with the wizard Gandalf, to help the dwarves regain their homeland from the dragon Smaug. The Lowdown: It's longer than it needed to be and it's certainly not in the same league as the Lord of the…
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupam Kher

Silver Linings Playbook

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Unusual screwball romantic comedy about two very dysfunctional people. The Lowdown: Richly rewarding, funny, fresh and touching romantic comedy that both adheres to the genre while taking it to new places. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence make for a very appealing couple — and get great support from the rest of the A-list…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler December 19-25: The Christmas Movie Rush

Posted on by Ken Hanke

Well, here we are. It’s Christmastime at the movies once again. Well, it’s Christmastime everywhere, but we’re concerned with movies here so we’ll focus on that. This year—just to make things interesting, I guess—the folks who make these decisions opted to hit us with seven new movies and one 3D-ified reissue in three volleys. The first hits on Dec. 19, the second on Dec. 21, and the heavy hitters make their bows on Christmas Day. Presumably, this is an attempt to spread things out more evenly. It will not, however, keep Christmas Day from being a madhouse where goodwill towards men extends only to the point of finding a seat.

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg

Hitchcock

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The story of Alfred Hitchcock risking it all to make Psycho. The Lowdown: No, it's not a history lesson. It's not even quite a biopic. It's cheeky and quirky and fairly shallow, but it never pretends to be anything else — and it's very entertaining.
Starring: Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, David Bruce, Dan Duryea, Elizabeth Patterson, Edward Everett Horton

Lady on a Train

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: While aboard a train stopped outside Grand Central Station, Deanna Durbin — on her way to spend Christmas with her aunt — witnesses a murder in a building near the tracks. Of course, no one believes her — and thereby hangs the plot of this comedy mystery with songs and a Christmas setting.…
Starring: Eva Dahlbeck, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ulla Jacobsson, Jarl Kulle, Björn Bjelvenstam

Smiles of a Summer Night

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Something a little — or even a lot — different from Ingmar Bergman. Smiles of a Summer Night finds the director in a playful and romantic mood — all the while flirting with his usual heavier concerns — and crafting a perfect sex farce that's really one of the most joyful films imaginable.
Starring: Grant Williams, Lola Albright, Les Tremayne, Trevor Bardette, Phil Harvey

The Monolith Monsters

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: A meteorite crashes in the desert, breaks into pieces, which turn into skyscraper-sized protrusions when they get wet — which then fall over and break, growing more and more towering rocks. Worse, these rocks can turn any organism into solid stone. As concepts go, yes, this is pretty dumb even for 1950s sci-fi,…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler December 12-18: Hitch and Hobbits

Posted on by Ken Hanke

Much like last week, this one is not exactly bubbling over with titles. In fact, we once again find ourselves faced with two movies. Unlike last week, there’s no sense here of movies being brought in just to put something new up on those screens. Indeed, these are movies people — not necessarily the same people — have been waiting to see.

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Mary Kay Place

Smashed

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Story of a young woman's efforts to deal with her increasing alcoholism. The Lowdown: Smashed isn't entirely successful — sometimes sticking too closely to the movie alcoholic playbook — but sometimes it bears the unmistakable stamp of truth, especially in Mary Elizabeth Winstead's performance.
Starring: Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty, Cecil Parker

The Lady Vanishes

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A young woman makes friends with an elderly school mistress on a train, but when she wakes from a nap, the old lady is gone — and everyone insists she was never there. The Lowdown: One of Alfred Hitchcock's best and most enjoyable movies. It's clever, witty, funny, exciting — and it's the…