Author: Jay Ruud

“Mother isn’t herself today.” The iconic lines, images, and incidents in Hitchcock’s classic thriller have become clichés of the modern cinema. Every slasher film from Halloween on essentially re-enacted Hitchcock’s notorious shower scene, and Norman Bates has become the prototype of the psychotic serial killer. The haunted Victorian mansion, the corpse in the cellar, and… Continue reading Movie Review: Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock

[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] RUUD RATING Black Mass 3 TENNYSONS [/av_image] In his new gangster drama Black Mass, Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) doesn’t bring anything particularly new or innovative to the American crime drama. You’ll find yourself mentally comparing it to Goodfellas and especially The Departed, and… Continue reading Movie Review: Black Mass by Scott Cooper

[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Susanns.jpg’ attachment=’78’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] RUUD RATING No Escape 2 JACQUELINE SUSANNS [/av_image] Not far into John Erick Dowdle’s international thriller “No Escape,” American businessman Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) is trapped on the roof of his hotel along with his family and dozens of other refugees from a… Continue reading Movie Review: No Escape by John Erick Dowdle

[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shakespeare-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’76’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Ruud Rating PHOENIX 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] If you’re in the mood to read a movie this summer, you could do a lot worse than catching Christian Petzold’s “Phoenix,” now showing in Central Arkansas after its wide U.S. release in mid-August. In German with… Continue reading Movie Review: Phoenix by Christian Petzold

[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shakespeare-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’76’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Ruud Rating The End of the Tour 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] Up to now, Jason Segel has been known for relatively lightweight roles in romantic comedies, like “The Five-Year Engagement” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Not surprisingly, fans of acclaimed author David Foster Wallace were… Continue reading Movie Review: The End of the Tour by James Ponsoldt