Category: Review

Gloria Bell Sebastian Lelio (2018) [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’] Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film for his 2017 film A Fantastic Woman, has gone back in time for his latest project, essentially reshooting his acclaimed 2013 film Gloria, but this… Continue reading Gloria Bell

Everybody Knows Asghar Farhadi (2018) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] We’re certainly in the doldrums of the Hollywood film cycle, with no new films in wide release this week that received anything like a positive critical consensus among reviewers nationwide. It’s… Continue reading Everybody Knows

Captain Marvel Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (2019) [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’] The Marvel Universe’s latest installment actually prompted the online review site RottenTomatoes.com to shut down and purge early audience reviews of Captain Marvel because an overwhelming number of trolls were savaging the film before its release date,… Continue reading Captain Marvel

Fighting With My Family Stephen Merchant (2019) [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’] I’ve always been put off by professional wrestling. Having a respect for the sport in its pure competitive aspect in high school, college, or Olympic venues, I’ve always felt that the professional marketing of the sport… Continue reading Fighting With My Family

Ruud’s Bottom Ten Following the debacle of this year’s Academy Awards, it seemed the perfect time to present a list of the ten worst movies to win the coveted Best Picture Oscar. If you read this space last week, you might be aware of just how much I didn’t think Green Book was deserving of a… Continue reading The Ten Worst Academy Award Winners

The Ruud Top Ten   With the Awards Season crawling towards its culmination in the Oscar ceremony this coming Sunday, I guess it’s about time for my annual Top Ten list of the best films I saw in 2018—or, I should say, the best films made in 2018 that I’ve been able to see, since… Continue reading Top Ten Films of 2018

They Shall Not Grow Old Peter Jackson (2018) [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 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] They went with songs to the battle, they were young,  Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.  They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;  They fell… Continue reading They Shall Not Grow Old

Stan & Ollie Jon S. Baird (2018) [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 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] Before Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, before Martin and Lewis, before Abbott and Costello, before Hope and Crosby, there was Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the quintessential comic duo who influenced… Continue reading Stan & Ollie

The Kid Who Would Be King Joe Cornish (2019) [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’] King Arthur has not generally fared particularly well in the movies, especially lately. Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword, despite its whiz-bang special effects and star studded cast, was so horrible… Continue reading The Kid Who Would Be King

Roma Alfonso Cuarón (2018) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] The most honored film of 2018, even prior to its ten Academy Award nominations revealed yesterday, has been Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical memory of Mexico City in the early 1970s, whose title comes… Continue reading Roma