Downsizing, review: Mini We Once in a while, a movie comes along that renews our faith in creative writing and the ability of cinema to rise above its own decadence. Maybe it took a dozen ‘shrink’, ‘little’ and ‘antman’ films, from 1957 to 2015, to inspire the writers of Downsizing, the title itself a pun, but the resulting effort has a fresh new feel about it. After setting up a very interesting premise and some smooth as silk spellbinding VFX, the film th...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent For everybody who loved the DESCENDANTS with George Clooney, but thought it was too sad, or loved SIDEWAYS with Paul Giamatt but not that comedic mean streak of Alexander Payne, here comes something to really love. It’s called DOWNSIZING from Paramount, directed by Payne and co-written with Jim Taylor. This new comedy stars Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Kristen Wiig and Hong Chau from INHERENT VICE. If it sounds like “Honey, I ...

The Legend of Tarzan, Review: Gorillas in the Midst Remember the immortal lines, “Me Tarzan, you Jane”?  Now try this, "He's Tarzan, you're Jane. He'll come for you," says her captor to Jane. He sure will. He’s been coming on to the screen for the last 98 years, in 41 movie and 57 TV outings. Adds up to 98 again. The Legend of Tarzan, preceding the character’s on-screen centenary by a whisker, is a slightly over-written exercise, without too ...

Big Eyes, Review: Submissive painter and harmful charmer, making waifs Big Eyes! Horror? No. Psychological thriller? No way. Comedy? In part, yes. A biopic about a hypnotist? Close, but it’s about a painter. So this painter had really BIG eyes? Wrong. Her eyes were of normal dimensions, but she had a fixation for painting young children with their eyes disproportionately big. So where’s the story? In 2003, writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Man on the Moon, Auto Focus,...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Yesterday Christoph Waltz, a two-time Oscar winner, turned 58; and it’s a high probability that no one at his party told him he has made the most important movie of his career in The Zero Theorem, but he did. Anything Tilda Swinton is in, is usually great, this being no exception. Call it a Terry Gilliam magnum opus, once in a lifetime movie that proves all the math on the greatness of Brazil’s promise, but with extra gears both in i...

by Marla Lewin2010 BAFTA Awards Winners                                      photo (c) 2010 BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards for 2010 (BAFTA) were announced tonight at London’s Royal Opera House. In his first formal act as President of BAFTA, Prince William presented Vanessa Redgrave with a British Academy Fellowship. HRH Prince William succeeds Lord Attenborough in the position. David Parfitt, Chair of BAFTA, said: “The Academy has had a long...

      by Marla Lewin Sandra Bullock continued her remarkable year where she has dominated the box office and been declared the number one top grossing star in the movies today. Bullock has become a serious best-actress competitor in the past month, with her SAG win, a win last week at the Golden Globes and a tie with Meryl Streep in the Critics Choice Movie Awards. The stars seem to be aligning for this well liked actress who has quietly entertained a...