A little over 100 years ago, in January 1913, what we now know as the Crest Theatre first opened its doors as the Empress, a vaudeville theater – soon to be renamed the Hippodrome. In 1946 it closed for extensive remodeling, re-opening in 1949 as the Crest with an interior much as you can still
This is an interesting week with a slew of new releases, all of which are from directors with track records that include better work than we’re getting now. Given the number of films this week, I’ll keep the reviews and commentary relatively short. —Tony Sheppard
Olympus Has Fallen Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Antione
Dead Man Down Directed by Niels Arden Oplev Oz the Great and Powerful Directed by Sam Raimi
In an odd coincidence this week, after a screening of “Dead Man Down,” I was pondering its release alongside “Oz the Great and Powerful” and also recalling the “The Wizard of Oz” and its three characters in
January can be an odd time at the movies, with some of the most varied releases showing up. On the one hand you have the serious award contenders slowly rolling out across the country, having had Christmas releases in Los Angeles and New York City in order to qualify for various competition deadlines. While on
Promised Land Directed by Gus Van Sant
(Ed’s Note: Contains vague plot spoilers)
In “Promised Land,” Matt Damon plays an up and coming employee of a natural gas company that’s in the process of entering into contracts with land owners to allow the company to drill for and extract gas from under their property.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Directed by Peter Jackson
Any review of this most recent tale of Middle Earth is hampered by considerations of the technology, as well as the adaptation and performances – so I’m going to split this column into parts.
The Technology
This is a high definition movie screened in
Hitchcock Directed by Sacha Gervasi
There’s a similarity between the new film “Hitchcock” and “Lincoln,” which opened and was reviewed three weeks ago. Both are films about strong, well regarded men at the top of their respective professions, who had impressive and broad-ranging careers and life stories that could be adapted into films of
There’s a movie opening this week that features a strong, charismatic leader with a rich life experience, making compromises and forging alliances to avoid future persecution of a targeted minority, against the backdrop of an extremely uncivil, civil war. Actually there are two as, on some level (and the comparison may offend some), that description