Category: Review

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

Deepwater Horizon Peter Berg (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’] Unless you’re maybe six years old, everybody remembers the accident on board the oil rig “Deepwater Horizon” off the Louisiana coast on April 20, 2010, which resulted in 4.9 billion (yes, that’s billion with a b) gallons of… Continue reading Deepwater Horizon

The Magnificent Seven Antoine Fuqua (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’] In 1954, classic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa brought out his masterpiece, Seven Samurai. That film, set in 16th century Japan, is the story of seven masterless samurai (or ronin) who are hired by a poor farming village… Continue reading The Magnificent Seven

Sully Clint Eastwood (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’] Ernest Hemingway famously defined courage as “grace under pressure,” and Captain Chesley Sullenberger, protagonist of Clint Eastwood’s new film Sully, is the exemplum of that definition. Eastwood, like Hemingway himself, has spent a career examining the notion of the… Continue reading Sully

[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 Kubo and the Two Strings 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] Travis Knight (2016)   In a summer of forgettable releases and a lot of same-old, same-old repackaged “entertainment,” along comes a truly imaginative, visually rich fantasy that I’m fairly certain is the best… Continue reading Kubo and the Two Strings

Bad Moms Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (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’] If you can have Bad Grandpa, Bad Teacher, or even Bad Santa, why can’t you have Bad Moms as well? I’ll tell you why. Because there are large segments of our society that still hold… Continue reading Bad Moms