Recent Reviews

After a preview screening of the quietly instructive and often amusing new movie Frances Ha, I was chatting with someone who told me that he was about to attend the college graduation of a nephew, and that the young man had absolutely no idea about what to do with with the rest of his life.

As just about everyone now knows, the first Hangover movie became one of 2009’s monster hits, a surprise attack of blatantly crude humor that boosted two careers, those belonging to Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis.

Here’s the thing about the apparently endless string of Fast & Furious movies. As number six gets ready to roar into theaters, I find myself only dimly in touch with the first five. They’ve all blended into a blur of flexed muscles, macho posturing, revving engines and nitrous-fueled blasts of energy.

Here’s a fun idea, not to mention one that offers a rare glimpse into the twisted corners of my psyche. If you live in Denver or any other city with art houses, you may be able to devote the better part of a day to watching two films about guys who earn their living by wrecking other people’s lives.

New Jersey-based hit man Richard Kuklinski reportedly killed more than 100 people during his career as an assassin so cold-blooded, he was called The Iceman. We’ve seen a lot of movies that glamorize criminal life and plenty that go for hard-core grit. The Iceman — which tells Kuklinski’s story — falls squarely into the latter category, and were it not for the work of Michael Shannon, the movie might have been another bit of cinematic slumming, one more foray into society’s lower depths.

Watching the abundantly entertaining Star Trek Into Darkness, it sometimes seems as if we’re seeing a spot-on replication of the original series — only one that’s been invaded by a new set of actors. Credit a cast led by Chris Pine (as Captain Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (as Spock) with working hard to keep their much-loved characters on track.

The Iceman has wound its way through the festival circuit to emerge into a medium-sized release. It’s a path I found surprising because except for some stylish period production design, the movie seems like a red-meat macho serial-killer movie.

Pieta is one of the most challenging films I’ve seen in the past year. It is not for the faint of heart, and it’s not likely to reward a casual viewer. It isn’t graphic, but it is horrible, in many ways, and in many scenes. Superficially, one might call it “offensive,” but only if you ignore the soup of negative introspective emotions — shame, regret, grief — that the film swims in.

Norway’s favorite Trivial Pursuit answer Thor Heyerdahl finally gets a biopic. If you always got that answer wrong, never fear; Kon-Tiki will fill you in nicely.

Star Trek Into Darkness boldly retreads where other episodes have gone before.

Sorry, old sport. The great American novel about pursuing the great American dream is still yearning for a tryst with the great American movie.

Iron Man 3 is a crazy, gutsy sequel. Once it gets going, its penchant for zagging instead of zigging is welcome relief from the typical strain of sequelitis.

It’s probably impossible to discuss The Reluctant Fundamentalist — director Mira Nair’s big-screen adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 novel — without at least mentioning the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon. I mention this because Nair’s movie poses a topical and eerily relevant question: What might make a highly educated and apparently assimilated Pakistani immigrant wind up opposing everything about the U.S.?

What must Iron Man 3 accomplish? Must the flawed superhero of Marvel Comics fame save the world from the evil machinations of terrorism-prone villain? Must he somehow reconcile the fragility of his humanity with powers bestowed on him when he dons his protective iron suit? Or must he navigate his way through an early summer mega-movie that might be deemed a dud if it doesn’t outdo its predecessors at the box office?

Even when he’s not at his best, director Ken Loach remains a treasure.

Loach’s new movie — The Angels’ Share — proves lighter and more amusing than much of Loach’s work, but to say that a Loach movie is funny doesn’t automatically mean that it’s void of realism.