Category: Review

Miss Sloane John Madden (2016) [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’] Miss Sloane is a film about the virtually unchecked influence of lobbyists in our nation’s capitol, and the shaping of policy by money and power (when somebody mentions “public opinion” in the film, he is very quickly told… Continue reading Miss Sloane

Moana Ron Clements and John Musker (2016) [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=”] This latest Disney animated “princess” movie has dominated the box office for the past two weeks and is the darling of the critics with a whopping 97 percent rating… Continue reading Moana

Allied Robert Zemeckis (2016) [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’] It’s not Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, but it is Casablanca in 1942, and there are Nazis to be dealt with, and playing the “Marseillaise” on the piano is a turning point in the film. And in the end,… Continue reading Allied

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them David Yates (2016) [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’] Apparently ’tis the season for what Chaucer called getting “new corn from old fields”: Hollywood is so skittish about trying anything new or original that they’re banking much of the holiday season on… Continue reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Arrival Denis Villenueve (2016) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SusannTennyson.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] Here’s a film that critics are falling over themselves to praise. I even saw one claim that it is the best picture of the year so far. Some 93 percent of critics have given it… Continue reading Arrival

Hacksaw Ridge Mel Gibson (2016) [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 Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest battle in World War II’s Pacific Theater, with more than 60,000 American casualties and some 150,000 Japanese deaths—many of them civilians. It was supposed to be the last Allied battle before… Continue reading Hacksaw Ridge

Inferno Ron Howard (2016) [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=10” appearance=’on-hover’] 2 JACQUELINE SUSANNS [/av_image] I did read The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s first Robert Langdon novel, the runaway best-seller about Catholic conspiracies and historical puzzles interspersed with Wikipedia-level art history lessons. I couldn’t figure out why it was… Continue reading Inferno

Denial Mick Jackson (2016) [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=”] A Narcissistic blowhard, fond of spouting untenable theories without any real evidence, denies that he is bigoted despite his own recorded words to the contrary, and wants to sue anyone calling him… Continue reading Denial

The Accountant Gavin O’Connor (2016)   [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SusannTennyson.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] In The Accountant, Ben Affleck plays a kind of cross between Batman and Rainman—a high-functioning autistic mathematical savant who also happens to be a martial arts expert and world-class sniper. If this seems… Continue reading The Accountant

[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] The Girl on the Train Tate Taylor (2016)   [/av_textblock] [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SusannTennyson.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] If you’ve read the best-selling mystery-thriller on which Tate Taylor’s new film is based, I’m not sure whether you’ll be happy with the adaptation: I… Continue reading The Girl on the Train