Train, The (1964)

The Daytrippers by Greg Mottola is quite a pleasant little film. An actor’s film. There are excellent performances from Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey, Anne Meara, Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, and Pat McNamara especially, but credit must also be given to Mr. Mottola, a young man just out of film school who conceived such good parts…

Ben Stiller is at his best when playing unlikeable characters. He shouldn’t be trying to soften them and make them more likeable.

Permanent Midnight, written and directed by David Veloz and based on the autobiographical book by Jerry Stahl is chiefly notable for the performance of Ben Stiller as Jerry Stahl, the TV writer who became a heroin addict and then, in recovery, managed to carve out a nice little career for himself as an ex-addict. Stiller…

Zoe goes from being a party girl that the guys don’t call next day to one of the feminist legends of the West. And she owes it all to her electronic tether.

[See “Entry from July 22, 2009” under “My Diary”] Discover more from James Bowman Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email. Type your email… Subscribe

The new nukes-on-the-loose action thriller, The Peacemaker, tells us in its opening credits that it was directed by Mimi Leder, but as the first and presumably showcase cinematic product of the Spielberg-Katzenberg-Geffen “Dreamworks” studio, it has all the earmarks of a Spielbergian extravaganza. There are advantages and disadvantages to the fact. Or, really, one advantage…