Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 1702-1722 of 5225 results
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Langley Kirkwood

Dredd

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Judge Dredd and his rookie sidekick find themselves trapped in a high-rise by a drug lord bent on their destruction. The Lowdown: Nonstop shoot 'em up bloody violence with pretty much nothing on its mind. Good for what it is, but it suffers if you've seen last spring's The Raid: Redemption.
Starring: Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Virginie Ledoyen, Xavier Beauvois, Noémie Lvovsky

Farewell, My Queen

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A look at the last days of royalty in France as witnessed by the Queen's reader. The Lowdown: An unusual approach to a perhaps overplayed subject makes this take on the story surprisingly fresh and compelling.
Starring: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster, Jane Asher

Alfie

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: It mightn't seem as striking as it did in 1966, but Alfie is the film that cemented Michael Caine as a bonafide movie star. The story, of an unregenerate Cockney lothario who starts to see the emptiness of his life, fit Caine perfectly — allowing his easy charm to segue almost effortlessly into…
Starring: Jeroen Krabbé, Renée Soutendijk, Thom Hoffman, Dolf de Vries, Geert de Jong

The Fourth Man

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Paul Verhoeven's art house classic The Fourth Man (1983) — an erotic thriller about a gay alcoholic Catholic writer who becomes besotted with the boyfriend of the woman he's staying with — holds up nicely today as a splendid — and heady — mix of mystery thriller, quasi-horror, eroticism and religious iconography (sometimes…
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Athene Seyler, Maurice Denham

Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon)

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: One of the greatest of all horror films, Night of the Demon is as fresh and brilliant today as it was when it first appeared in 1957. This is a rare case of a movie where absolutely everything comes together just right: the script, the direction, the acting, the musical score. In fact,…
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo, Hiroshi Tachikawa

Throne of Blood

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Akira Kurosawa's brilliant but hardly subtle film version of Shakespeare's Macbeth is one of the director's strongest films — and an essential for anyone interested in Japanese cinema.
Starring: Sixto Rodriguez, Malik Bendjelloul, Clarence Avant, Eva Rodriguez, Regan Rodriguez, Sandra Rodiguez-Kennedy

Searching for Sugar Man

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Music documentary about the mysterious and little-known pop star Rodriguez who disappeared from the scene after two critically-praised, but commercially disastrous albums in early 1970s. The Lowdown: An absolutely splendid documentary that tells a true stoty of amazing improbability. Beautifully structured with a genuine dramatic arc and a lot of nice music. Don't…
Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy

Charade

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: When a young woman's husband is murdered, his four cohorts come looking for the fortune they believe she has. The Lowdown: A brilliantly entertaining mix of sexy romance, suspense and comedy anchored to sophisticated writing and direction with two bonafide classic movie stars, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Jeremy Irons, Ben Barnes, Nora Arnezeder

The Words

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The tale of what happens when a struggling writer finds a manuscript in an old briefcase and passes it off as his own. The Lowdown: Nicely made and with a good cast, but never very compelling due to a screenplay that lacks much in the way of characterization or believable drama.
Starring: Jordan Gelber, Selma Blair, Mia Farrow, Christopher Walken, Justin Bartha, Donna Murphy

Dark Horse

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A bleak look at the entitled American man-boy — in something other than his usual rom-com confines. The Lowdown: An unfailingly bitter and grim comedy from Todd Solondz that doesn't always work, but which is rarely less than fascinating in its examination of a character we've merely come to accept without question.
Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, Nate Parker

Arbitrage

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A capital investment manager tries to cover a shortage until he can sell his business, all while a detective is on his trail over the car wreck that left his mistress dead. The Lowdown: Strong central performances, an intelligent script and solid professional filmmaking make this complex crime thriller compelling entertainment.
Starring: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod

A Man Escaped

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Robert Bresson's entertaining but overrated 1956 "true story" (he claims it as such) — about a man's escape from a Nazi prison in France during World War II — has the distinction of being one of the director's few profitable film, probably because it's the most accessible. The escape itself is very well-done…
Starring: Jock Mahoney, Shirley Patterson, William Reynolds, Henry Brandon, Douglas Kennedy

The Land Unknown

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Bargain basement cheesy 1950s sci-fi horror of the finest kind. It's all about a tropical lost world that's somehow (don't ask) in Antarctica, and which is discovered when a group of intrepid explorers' helicopter goes down. This leaves them prey to man-eating plants, a guy in a Tyrannosaurus rex suit, a puppet sea…
Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Miriam Hopkins, Claudette Colbert, George Barbier, Charles Ruggles

The Smiling Lieutenant

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: One of Ernst Lubitsch's funniest, raciest and most sophisticated films stars Maurice Chevalier as a lieutenant in the Austrian army who makes the mistake of winking at his girlfriend (Claudette Colbert) just as a visiting princess (Miriam Hopkins) passes by. A misunderstanding follows that results in Chevalier having to marry the princess to…
Starring: Colm Feore, Derek Keurvorst, Katya Ladan, David Hughes, Don McKellar

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: An eccentric film — or series of little films — about the equally eccentric Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. It sounds more awkward than it plays — and it does come together to offer a kind of biographical narrative, albeit a frequently playful and deliberately enigmatic one. Some of the vignettes work better than…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler September 12-18: Last Arbitrage of Dark Sugar Man Retributio­n

Posted on by Ken Hanke

The art titles have it this week—at least locally—and we bid farewell to the weekend of the worst box office in years. (Well, when your big opening movie is The Words what do you expect?) We have three art titles up against one mainstream title—and one oddity that slipped in quietly and will probably leave the same way.

Starring: Mike Birbligia, Lauren Ambrose, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane, Cristin Milioti, Aya Cash

Sleepwalk with Me

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: The quasi-autobiographical tale of a would-be stand-up comic sorting out his personal and professional life. The Lowdown: Aimed squarely at fans of star, co-writer, co-director Mike Birbiglia and listeners of NPR's This American Life, this quirky film will undoubtedly play better to the faithful, but remains a pleasant comedy on its own merits.
Starring: Diane Lane, Raoul Bova, Sandra Oh, Vincent Riotta, Dan Bucatinsky

Under the Tuscan Sun

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Pleasant, if not remarkable, mid-life romantic comedy with Diane Lane as a divorcee who throws caution to the winds and buys an Italian villa in need of a lot of work in order to make a stab at a new life.