Tag Archives: Movies

Best of 2011 on The Movie Gourmet’s new site

Posted on December 31, 2011 by moviegourmet

My Best Movies of 2011 is up on my new blog at The Movie Gourmet.com. So is Your Holiday Movie Guide and comments on all the latest films.  Plus all of my year-end lists like Biggest Disappointments, Breakthroughs, Best Time … Continue reading →

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DVD of the Week: Kaboom

Posted on May 31, 2011 by moviegourmet

And now for some sexy silliness. Director Gregg Araki created the brilliant and searing Mysterious Skin, but here he’s just having fun.  In the first hour of Kaboom, I lost track of how many characters had sex with each other … Continue reading →

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DVD of the Week: Kings of Pastry

Posted on May 24, 2011 by moviegourmet

This documentary chronicles the physically grueling and emotionally draining three-day competition for the MOF, the highest designation for French pastry chefs. Amid impossibly towering sugar sculptures and delectable cream puffs and layer cakes, we see the essential cores of competition … Continue reading →

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13 Assassins: a cut above

Posted on May 23, 2011 by moviegourmet

Director Takeshi Miike’s take on the samurai movie is the best contribution to the genre since Kurosawa. Brilliantly staged and photographed, this is one of the best recent action films in any language or setting. It’s a familiar set-up: an … Continue reading →

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Bridesmaids: funny, but incomplete

Posted on May 20, 2011 by moviegourmet

Bridesmaids is a funny movie, but one that could have been much better.  In a role that she wrote for herself, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life.  … Continue reading →

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Movies to See Right Now

Posted on May 19, 2011 by moviegourmet

The searing drama Incendies is the year’s best film so far. Upon their mother’s death, a young man and woman learn for the first time of their father and their brother and journey from Quebec to the Middle East to … Continue reading →

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Incendies: best movie of the year so far

Posted on May 18, 2011 by moviegourmet

This searing drama is the year’s best film so far. Upon their mother’s death, a young man and woman learn for the first time of their father and their brother and journey from Quebec to the Middle East to uncover … Continue reading →

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Meek’s Cutoff: when men don’t ask for directions

Posted on May 18, 2011 by moviegourmet

Meek’s Cutoff is an unfortunate misfire by the excellent director Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy).   The masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock has already been made.  We didn’t need an indifferent covered wagon version. The route of the Oregon … Continue reading →

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DVD of the Week: Diabolique

Posted on May 17, 2011 by moviegourmet

The headmaster of a provincial boarding school is so cruel, even sadistic, that everyone wants him dead, especially his wife and his mistress.  When he goes missing, the police drain the murky pool where the killers dumped the body, and … Continue reading →

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Queen to Play: A passion discovered late

Posted on May 13, 2011 by moviegourmet

In the fine French drama Queen to Play, a working class woman discovers a passion for chess  in midlife.  It’s a film about aspiration.  First, she must muster the courage and resourcefulness to learn the game.  When it becomes an … Continue reading →

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