Video Vault: The Road

The Road 2009 – John Hillcoat Rated R: 111 minutes Vault Rating: 9 Cormac McCarthy lives in this community of artists and thinkers out west.  They’re the big brains in our world today, luminaries and philosophers and scientists in a community that allows them the freedom to think even the most preposterous hypotheses out loud. [...]

Video Vault: Where the Wild Things Are

    Where the Wild Things Are 2009 – Spike Jonze PG – 101 minutes Vault Rating: 8 When someone takes a children’s book and turns it into a Jim Carrey movie (see Grinch) or a 3D animated nightmare (Meatballs, which wasn’t even a great book), yer doomed.  Doomed to go to the cinema and [...]

Video Vault: Talk To Her

Talk To Her 2002 – Pedro Almodovar Rated R : 105 mins. Vault Rating: 8 Benigno (L) and Marco ® befriend each other while caring for their injured girlfriends in today’s Video Vault feature: “Talk to Her.” Here’s a compelling and original love story set mostly in a head trauma ward. I told you it [...]

Video Vault :: Avatar

Avatar 2009: James Cameron PG-13: 162 minutes Vault Rating: 7.5 “Jungle Love” : U.S. Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) gets a tip on bow-hunting from Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) in a scene from the first run blockbuster, “Avatar.”The much-hyped 3D bajillion dollar extravaganza looks good and plays a bit long. If you like a good sci-fi, [...]

Video Vault: ‘Giant’

A Good Lookin’ Cast: Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean star in today’s Video Vault Classic feature, “Giant.” Giant 1956 – George Stevens Rated G – 201 minutes Vault Rating: 7 In its three hours and twenty-one minutes, “Giant” makes its points bluntly in the context of the squabbles over land and wealth of [...]

Video Vault:: ‘Following’

Following 1998: Christopher Nolan Rated R: 69 mins. Vault Rating: 8 Today’s Video Vault feature is a small budget thriller about an out of work writer (Jeremy Theobald) who begins following strangers for material to write about. When one of his subjects (Alex Haw as “Cobb”) catches him at it, they begin a relationship where [...]

Video Vault: Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore 1988 / Italy, France Rated PG / 123 minutes Vault Rating: 9 A few weeks ago, I told you how I’d just watched this grand old film, “Cinema Paradiso,” in its director’s cut. I told you it was one of the best 24 films of all time. Here is why. [...]

Video Vault: Vicky Christina Barcelona

Vicky Christina Barcelona Dir: Woody Allen Rated PG-13 / 96 minutes Vault Rating: 6.5 When hot Spanish artist Juan Antonio Gonzalo (Javier Bardem) attempts to seduce two vacationing American women at once, love triangles abound in this mild mannered comedy-romance by Woody Allen. When Juan Antonio’s fiery ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz in an Oscar-winning [...]

Video Vault: Young at Heart

Young at Heart 2007: Stephen Walker PG – 107 minutes Vault Rating: 9 When I grow up, I want to be in the Young @ Heart Chorus. The Vault Rating of 9 isn’t because today’s feature is the most cinematically magical. It isn’t because the acting is great. Actually, there IS no acting in this [...]

Video Vault: The Happening

The Happening 2008: M. Night Shyamalan Rated R – 91 minutes Vault Rating: 7 I liked M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” better than most critics. Many of the spies likewise have noted that they had reservations about the film afterward and some found the film vaguely disturbing. But count the Vault as a devoted fan [...]

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