Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death)

Kenneth Branagh’s new film of Love’s Labour’s Lost has very little to do with the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. Branagh’s marketability (such as it is) has always been pretty closely tied to that of the 16th century playwright, but here he is shamelessly using the Shakespeare brand name simply in order…

Pity the poor celebrity! Harried, persecuted and plotted against by paparazzi scum, is it any wonder if he takes the law into his own hands?

Sensitive writers rendered dysfunctional by their dysfunctional families — hm, where have we heard something like that before?

Mystery, Alaska, directed by Jay Roach, aspires to be the Rocky of hockey. A small-town hockey team from Alaska (surely they must mean Canada?) takes on the mighty New York Rangers on the neighborhood ice and, against all expectations, goes the distance with them. If you get a lump in your throat when Rocky staggers…

Un Air de Famille, directed by Cédric Klapisch (While the Cat’s Away) from an original play by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, is enormous fun, and I highly recommend it if you are lucky enough to find it opening in your neighborhood. Denis (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) is having affair with Betty (Miss Jaoui) while working for…

In Snake Eyes by Brian De Palma we are presented with Nicholas Cage in the role of Rick Santoro, a loud, corrupt and casually brutal cop in Atlantic City. He gambles, takes bribes, keeps a mistress on his illegal income and rarely sees his wife and child. He knows all the angles and has a…