By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic The impressively acted, well written and beautifully shot period piece “In Secret” manages to morph from a convincingly Dickensian coming-of-age tale into a grimly suspenseful film noir without getting too garishly gothic about it. Combin [...]
By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic “The Monuments Men” alternates between a bland bloodlessness that even a couple of cast-member killings can’t make moving and director/co-writer George Clooney’s usual brand of smirking self-satisfaction that trivializes the b [...]
*****NOTE TO EDITORS: Review is embargoed until February 7, 2014.***** By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Actress Zoe Kazan (“Ruby Sparks”) does adorable double duty as different but identical twin sisters in the appealing light dramedy “The Pretty One” by firs [...]
By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Director Martin Scorsese’s manic, hilarious, deliciously depraved and unexpectedly epic “The Wolf of Wall Street” is so much wild and crazy wall-to-wall fun that it’s by far the most enjoyable movie I’ve seen all year. I [...]
By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic No one can see every movie that makes it to the multiplexes, which is why it’s a good idea to be skeptical of any critic claiming to have a “10 Best” list this time of year. Instead, here are my 10 favorites of the films I caught [...]
By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Writer/director Spike Jonze’s thoroughly modern romance “Her” is one of the most thought-provoking films of the year, raising intriguing questions about what constitutes not only love but life itself. The most pertinent here is whet [...]
****NOTE TO EDITORS: THIS REVIEW IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/18/13**** By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic More adequate than legendary and far too long, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” brings back Will Ferrell’s pompously bombastic news reader Ron Burgundy for a seven- [...]
By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Here’s the secret that apparently eluded the makers of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”: Eliminating the elaborate CGI fantasies that serve as its main advertising draw actually would have improved the movie. This well photographed [...]
By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Don’t let the title fool you. Although the new feature-length documentary “Six by Sondheim” devotes special attention to a mere half-dozen of the acclaimed lyricist/composer’s songs, it also provides a fascinating look at Step [...]