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Leonard Maltin

Hugo—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
  • |
  • November 23, 2011 7:42 AM
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  • 15 Comments
Reviews
Leave it to Martin Scorsese to use 3-D not as a gimmick, but as a means of drawing us into a unique and magical environment. Other films may boast of flashy special effects, but Scorsese has created a world of wonder—which is much more unusual—in his elaborate adaptation of Brian Selznick’s illustrated book The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
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More: Hugo, movie review, Asa Butterfield, Film Reviews, Ben Kingsley, Martin Scorsese, 3-D, John Logan

The Muppets—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 23, 2011 7:40 AM
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  • 3 Comments
Reviews
On my way to see this movie I kept saying to myself, “I hope they didn’t louse it up!” The Muppets mean too much to me to let Jason Segel, or anybody, for that matter, diminish them. The minute the picture started, I heaved a sigh of relief and broke out in a smile. This is a joyful movie, the kind the Muppets (and their many fans) deserve.
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More: Film Reviews, The Muppets, movie review, Amy Adams, James Bobin, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Alan Arkin

Arthur Christmas—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 23, 2011 7:30 AM
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  • 7 Comments
Reviews
It’s rare for me to laugh out loud, repeatedly, during a movie these days, but 'Arthur Christmas' gave me that welcome opportunity. It is so ingenious, endearing, and downright funny that it instantly joins the ranks of first-class holiday movies, intended for viewers young and old. I even enjoyed the use of 3-D in this felicitous collaboration between Aardman Animations (the folks who brought us Wallace and Gromit) and Sony Imageworks.
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More: Film Reviews, Hugh Laurie, James McAvoy, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Arthur Christmas, movie review, Aardman Animations, Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith

A Dangerous Method—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 23, 2011 1:15 AM
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  • 8 Comments
Reviews
Can a play about personal conflicts in the nascent world of psychiatry at the turn of the 20th century be translated into an effective film? In the hands of playwright/screenwriter Christopher Hampton, director David Cronenberg, and three exceptional actors, the answer is yes. It takes some getting used to, as we don’t often see films that are so dependent on dialogue to express relationships. But if you avoid it because you don’t like “talky” dramas you will miss some of the finest performances of the year.
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More: Film Reviews, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel, A Dangerous Method, movie review, David Cronenberg, Christopher Hampton

My Week With Marilyn—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 22, 2011 1:09 AM
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  • 5 Comments
Reviews
This film has a different flavor from the usual biopic—and it’s delicious, at least for any diehard movie buff. Imagine stepping into a time machine, traveling back to 1956, and getting to eavesdrop on Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier during the famously troubled production of 'The Prince and the Showgirl'. That’s precisely what we do in this enticing film, based on the published diary of Colin Clark (son of the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark), who worked as an assistant to Olivier on that picture.
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More: My Week With Marilyn, Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Film Reviews, Simon Curtis, Adrian Hodges, Toby Jones, Julia Ormond

The Artist―movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 21, 2011 8:48 PM
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  • 9 Comments
Reviews
If Michel Hazanavicius’ 'The Artist' were merely an homage to silent films, it would be easy to dismiss as an amusing stunt. But his hand is so sure, his actors so engaging (and engaged), that the movie plays as well as any other picture made this year—if not better.
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More: Film Reviews, The Artist, movie review, Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Reviews

Happy Feet Two

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 18, 2011 2:33 AM
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  • 3 Comments
Reviews
I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of ‘Happy Feet’, which had many good qualities but got bogged down by its ecological message (worthy though it was). The sequel still tries to tell too many stories, and winds up being a long string of dramatic climaxes, but it also plays to the first movie’s strengths: music, dance, and dramatic staging on an enormous canvas. (It’s even more impressive in IMAX 3-D, as I viewed it.) The end result may not win any prizes for narrative but it’s consistently entertaining, and a feast for the eyes.
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More: Film Reviews, Happy Feet Two, Tweety & Sylvester, George Miller, Animation, Elijah Wood, E. G. Daily

The Descendants

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 16, 2011 11:34 AM
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  • 8 Comments
Reviews
Watching a film as mature, moving, original and unpredictable as ‘The Descendants’ renews my faith in American movies, and reaffirms Alexander Payne’s status as one of our most gifted storytellers. He has also bestowed the gift of an exceptional role on George Clooney, who gives the best performance of his career.
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More: Film Reviews, George Clooney, Alexander Payne, Shailene Woodley, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Kaui Hart Hemmings

Melancholia - movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 11, 2011 1:32 AM
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  • 11 Comments

Lest anyone mistake the man who made Antichrist as a purveyor of feel-good entertainment, Lars von Trier has opted for truth in advertising by titling his new film Melancholia. The Danish filmmaker enjoys courting controversy, and some of his films seem deliberately designed to provoke and upset audiences…but he’s also made some fascinating pictures like Breaking the Waves andDogville, so I try to take each movie as it comes without any preconceived notions.

To my mind, Melancholia is both absorbing and absurd. It opens with a visual prologue that turns out to be a précis of the film that is to follow. Kirsten Dunst (who won the Best Actress award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) plays a beautiful bride who arrives two hours

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More: Film Reviews, Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard, Melancholia, Kiefer Sutherland, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling

J. Edgar - movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • November 10, 2011 12:22 AM
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  • 10 Comments

Leonardo DiCaprio is not the first name that springs to mind as the embodiment of legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover—unlike, for instance, the title character in the upcoming remake of The Great Gatsby. I give the actor credit for his commitment to this assignment, but he’s still not quite right, especially if you’ve seen any newsreel footage of the bulldog-like Hoover. It’s more difficult to excuse screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and director Clint Eastwood for making such a dull, monotonous biography of one of the 20th century’s most commanding and controversial figures.

Another glaring problem plagues the picture, which spans six decades: while one can (gradually) accept DiCaprio’s aging makeup, and even Naomi Watts’s, it is impossible to invest in any latter-day scene involving Armie Hammer because his old-age makeup is so astonishingly bad. Even if the film were brilliant, and it’s not, this would be a serious stumbling block, for which there is no apparent reason.

As for the dramaturgy, Black takes a nonlinear approach

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More: Film Reviews, Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Clint Eastwood, Armie Hammer, J. Edgar, movie review

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Popular Posts

  • Studio Vaults Open—On DVD
  • Remembering Deanna Durbin
  • Sugar And Spice: Love Is All You Need
  • Movie-Buff Heaven: The TCM Classic Film Festival
  • A River of Dreams: Mud
  • Disney, Hitchcock, and Marilyn Flying High
  • HOW TO PITCH A MOVIE…AND MORE
  • With Bogart On The African Queen
  • Greta's New Wave: Frances Ha
  • Star Trek Into Darkness
  • A Voyage Worth Taking: Kon-Tiki
  • The Incredible Shrinking 3-D Audience
  • Well-Forged: Iron Man 3
  • At Any Price
  • The Great Gatsby

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