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THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES - REVIEW

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Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)  was released on Netflix this month after a respectable performance at the Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as Harold Meyerowitz, an ageing sculptor whose children have grown up resenting him somewhat based on their divisive upbringing. Harold constantly confuses his own sons' childhoods since his art was and still is always at the forefront of his mind with his daughter Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) trailing far behind. Danny (Adam Sandler) and Matthew (Ben Stiller) are very different from each other as a result of Harold's lack of interest: the former is a down-and-out musician with a limp, the latter is a successful yet high-strung private wealth expert. The film follows this family as they are forced to reconnect when Harold suffers a significant health scare. These are "New and Selected" stories in that, while the film is mostly linear, it skips through portions of

SPHERE - REVIEW

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Based on a Michael Crichton novel, Sphere was a 1998 sci-fi film about a team of experts in various fields exploring some crashed underwater spaceship. Directed by Barry Levinson, the film boasts an all-star cast with Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote and Liev Schreiber all being part of the main team. Sphere is a psychological thriller that's a bit like a cross between The Abyss , Event Horizon , The Thing and Alien as the more the selected experts investigate the spaceship, the creepier the tone of the film becomes. Eventually, characters start dropping like flies as various unexpected threats start popping up randomly from killer jellyfish to giant squids. The discovery of a gold alien sphere in the middle of the spaceship leads to growing paranoia among the crew and various twists and turns. There are references here and there to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and, indeed, the film attempts to capture the book's sense of adventure and cla

DICK TRACY - REVIEW

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Back in 1990, following the huge success of Batman , Warren Beatty brought back another comic-book superhero for a modern, darker big screen outing: Dick Tracy , the yellow trench coat-wearing detective who punches grotesque-looking enemies with silly names in the face. The film stars Beatty himself as Dick Tracy with Madonna in the femme fatale role and the likes of Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, William Forsythe and James Caan playing some of the wacky villains. Armed with a cool Danny Elfman score, songs by musical maestro Stephen Sondheim and an impressive visual art style, the comic strip-turned-blockbuster received mixed reviews upon its release but did well at the box-office. Unfortunately, no sequel or reboot was ever produced and, as a result, people tend to bypass or forget the movie altogether. Which is a shame seeing as, if this film is any indication, it's a franchise with tons of potential. The plot sees Dick Tracy and his girlfriend Tess (Glenne Headly) take a you

LENNY - REVIEW

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Dustin Hoffman takes on the role of iconic 60's stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce in Lenny , director Bob Fosse's first post- Cabaret film. The movie, which is presented to us in gorgeous black and white, follows Bruce's relationship with stripper Honey (Valerie Perrine) as they get married and eventually share some tumultuous times together. We also, of course, see how Bruce's career as a comedian developed over the years and get a good glimpse of the sleazy side of his character and comedy clubs. Though the film is about Lenny Bruce, one of the most important comedians to date, I wouldn't expect too many laughs with this movie as it's far darker and moodier than you'd expect. There's a fascinating contrast throughout the movie between the cornier aspects of Bruce's early style of comedy and the raw and gritty 70's style of the film itself. Fosse certainly doesn't sugar-coat anything and even includes some documentary-style Q&A's w

HOOK - REVIEW

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Few films captured my imagination quite as much as Hook  did back in the day. It was a live-action Peter Pan which was decidedly kid-friendly and crazily whimsical yet it felt more grown-up somehow. Even as a kid, I vastly preferred it to the animated Disney flick and... ...it almost made me believe in Julia Roberts fairies. Damn you Spielberg, you lying genius. Re-watching it now, some of the film's whimsy is sadly lost on natural cynicism and busy kid-full scenes have become kinda exhausting to watch. Hook's cheesier moments like the little girl randomly singing or the whole let's-touch-Robin Williams'-face scene have become a tad distracting rather than just instantly charming and yet the film still mostly works if you're willing to buy into it. Spielberg's NeverLand is brought to life beautifully. A surreal world full of crude pirates, sword-wielding children, sexy mermaids, hungry crocodiles and several moons, it's simply an enchanting, perfec