Movie review by Greg Carlson While director Pedro Almodovar chooses immediately to musically invoke Hitchcock’s “Psycho” during his opening credit sequence (a Saul Bass-esque cut-and-paste doozy of reds, blacks, and whites), the movie that ends up being re-imagined more thoroughly throughout the great Spanish director’s “Bad Education” is “Vertigo.” Continuing his evolution into one of […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson “Being Julia,” director Istvan Szabo’s film version of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel “Theatre,” makes the argument that everything is artifice and that people, with varying degrees of success, are always acting. Despite a splendid supporting cast and a delightful central turn by Annette Bening, “Being Julia” is as trifling and […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Mike Leigh is a tremendous talent as a filmmaker, and his latest feature “Vera Drake” can be every bit as gripping and moving as the best moments from “Naked,” “Secrets & Lies,” or “Topsy-Turvy.” Set in London in 1950, Leigh’s film at first seems calculatingly and rigorously structured, but eventually […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Clint Eastwood – perhaps energized by the success of “Mystic River” – returns just in time for award season with another film of surprising power and grace. “Million Dollar Baby” is a boxing movie, and boxing movies are not routinely recognized for their originality. Eastwood understands this concept going in, […]