items tagged with Kathy Bates

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

The overall experience of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, at least for me, can be effectively visualized in one sequence – one shot, really – in this jubilant, intoxicating comedy.

DEAR JOHN

Since no one's been pressing a gun to my head, I haven't read Nicholas Sparks' Dear John, which concerns a pair of star-crossed lovers whose romance is derailed by the young man's Army tenure. I have, however, seen director Lasse Hallström's screen version, which apparently follows the novel's blueprint faithfully (albeit with an altered ending), so permit me a question: Does Sparks have absolutely no shame?

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

Like last November's film version of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, this November's follow-up, the helpfully titled The Twilight Saga: New Moon, is a mostly dour affair, a vampire tale less concerned with blood-letting than with the pain of teenage heartache, romantic longing, chastity, and maudlin acoustic ballads. That's why, despite some occasional levity, it's a shock to find director Chris Weitz's movie boasting not one but two absolutely outstanding jokes.

CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY

Watching the early scenes of Capitalism: A Love Story, I found myself thinking, none too happily, that the bloom was finally off the rose, and that my fondness for Michael Moore documentaries had, at last, reached its end.

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Set in 1955, Revolutionary Road finds Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet portraying Frank and April Wheeler, a young, affluent couple who realize they're miserable with their well-ordered lives in the suburbs - beautiful home, adorable kids, friendly neighbors - and it would be perfectly understandable if audiences watched the pair's suffering and listened to their frequent fits of rage and asked, "What's the freaking problem here?"