Tom Hardy has the muscular build and raspy voice of a bruiser, so it’s no wonder he’s often cast as a man comfortable with violence. Since his feature-film debut as an Army Ranger under siege in 2001’s “Black Hawk Down,”…
Ambition, anxiety and sci-fi disasters
Science, literature, and film give life to our dreams but never without consequence, it seems. Every invention, formula, or vision — even with benevolent intentions — has a countertale of tragedy from a lack of forethought or an unchecked ego.…
Film’s Visions of the Great Beyond
The film “Heaven Is for Real” opens in theaters in time for Easter Sunday, giving us another interpretation of what might occur in the afterlife. Based on the best-selling book of the same name, “Heaven Is for Real” shows what…
Alfonso Cuaron’s Skyward Spiral
Alfonso Cuarón is a “movie visionary of the highest order,” critics say – and we need no more proof of his focus and endurance than the path he took to launch “Gravity.” Still in theaters, “Gravity” stars Sandra Bullock and…
Fun facts about the enchanting Amy Adams
With her effervescent personality and “beautiful face of light,” Amy Adams plays a believable ingenue. Yet the thirty-nine-year-old relishes revealing new depths. As a seductive 1970s scam artist in “American Hustle,” for instance, audiences and critics alike delight in her character’s…
The unbridled character of movie horses
“Winter’s Tale” opens on Valentine’s Day, bringing to life a mystical vision of New York City, a century-spanning love story and a character readers have adored for decades: an otherworldly white horse named Athansor, who gallops higher than clouds and…
Alexander Payne and “simple human stories”
In Alexander Payne’s films, not much happens but whole worlds change. The director and Oscar-winning screenwriter is hardly prolific, directing six features since 1996, including “Sideways,” “The Descendants,” and now “Nebraska.” Yet each bears his distinct imprint: regular people forced…
He’s got our attention, all right, all right, all right
Matthew McConaughey once embodied the laid-back good-old-guy: living in an Airstream on the beach, playing bongos naked, and choosing light action films (“Sahara”) and forgettable romantic comedies (“The Wedding Planner”) that showcased his suave, easy charm. Fast forward to…
A Mother’s Work Is Never Done
Although Kate Winslet calls her children “absolutely my everything,” the mothers she brings to life onscreen often struggle to put family first. I’ve had my eye on her since her film debut as a teen bludgeoning a friend’s mother in…