Movie Review – The Mechanic (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
Jason Statham is elite hitman Arthur Bishop in The Mechanic. A professional at his level doesn’t meet directly with the clients: he gets his jobs through a murder-for-hire broker represented by an “executive” baddie, nameless bodyguards, and the voice of an anonymous telephone operator. Bishop’s primary contact is his old mentor and friend Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland). When the company hires him to kill McKenna over an internecine dispute, he does so without hesitation. Bishop has always lived and worked alone, but his solitude is broken when he agrees to tutor McKenna’s son Steve (Ben Foster)- violent, aimless, sometime drug-user- in the assassin’s trade. Read more 
Movie Review – The Mechanic (1972)
by NIR SHALEV
Charles Bronson plays Arthur Bishop, a hitman who always makes the assassinations look like accidents, hence the title “mechanic.” Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (January 28, 2011)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Sally Hawkins fights for the rights of British women in the 1960s, while Stephen Dorff plays an actor whose daughter may help him grow up, just a little bit, and Jane Austen gets “reimagined” yet again. These are the three limited release films new to big screens in Indiana this week- and if none of them look promising to you, there are LOTS of holdovers, festivals, special screenings and events throughout the state in the next seven days (a good percentage of them added by the recent opening of the IU Cinema in Bloomington). For all of that and more, read on below… Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of Heartbreaker (2010)
by HELEN GEIB
Alex (Romain Duris) is a professional break-up artist. With his big sister Melanie (Julie Ferrier) and her husband, he makes a living from breaking up bad relationships. It’s a company with a strong ethical code, though: they only take the job if the woman is unhappy, but doesn’t know she’s unhappy, and Alex never sleeps with the target. Their modus operandi is to coax the woman into realizing that she deserves better than that jerk, something her family or friends who paid for the break-up already know. Read more
Movie Review – Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
by NIR SHALEV
Martin Scorsese’s Bringing out the Dead, based on the Joe Connelly novel of the same name, takes place during the early 1990s and is a magnificent tribute to the decay of nighttime New York City. It focuses on the Hell’s Kitchen area and literally makes it look like one of the nine circles of hell. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (January 21, 2011)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
This is what I call a good week: a cool sounding science-fiction film starts at the Georgetown 14 in Indianapolis, along with a documentary that sounds like it is well worth seeing, an interesting-looking animated film from Japan, and two movies from India that might be of interest to even those of you who’ve never seen an Indian film before.* On top of all that, some much-praised movies are holding over at theaters throughout the state, and there are special screenings galore (including a showing of a new film by a director who was born in 1908). For all of that and much, much more, keep reading below. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex: National Edition (November 12-25, 2010)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Welcome once again to the feature where we take a look at the movies that went into limited release in the US; in this case, the release dates covered range from November 12 through November 25.* Of course, many movies don’t get any sort of theatrical release in the US, so the titles covered over the course of a year in this column are some fraction of the movies released on theater screens around the world. And most of the movies below did not play in very many theaters in the US (especially when it comes to theaters outside of New York City and greater Los Angeles). But I feel like some sort of record must be kept regardless, and this column is another attempt in that regard. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of Animal Kingdom (2010)
by HELEN GEIB
Animal Kingdom is the promising feature filmmaking debut of Australian David Michod, who wrote and directed. It is set in Melbourne, home to the Cody family: matriarch Janine; sons Pope, Craig, and Darren; their longtime “business” partner Baz; and grandson Josh. The Cody family business is crime. The brothers and Baz specialize in armed robbery, Craig deals drugs on the side, and there are hints of other criminal activities. The family has a shady lawyer on retainer and Janine knows the right people to call when one of her boys is in trouble. Read more
Movie Review – The Green Hornet (2011)
by HELEN GEIB
The Green Hornet is fun at first, but turns tedious in a long middle section. After the first act sets the stage, the movie flails around in search of a plot, merely marking off the minutes until the big action finale. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex in Indiana (January 14, 2011)
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Two happy films bring some sunshine and smiles to the Keystone Art Cinema (okay, maybe not…), while several Indian films are at the Georgetown 14, and a romantic comedy/drama makes its belated theatrical debut. It’s a pretty busy week, in contrast to the past few weeks- so without further ado (besides noting that The King’s Speech is in wide release as of this week, and hence beyond the scope of this column from now on), on with the show…. Read more
