Articles tagged "meryl streep"

News

Sweet Child o’ mine: Meryl Streep is the Julia of ‘Julie & Julia’

by John Anderson [Newsday (MCT)]

[3.Aug.09] :. NEW YORK — For “Julie & Julia,” Meryl Streep said, she based her portrayal of chef-de-TV Julia Child partly on her own mother, who had “an undeniable sense of joie de...

PopWire

The PopMatters Summer 2009 Movie Preview Feature

Summer of Same: August 2009

by Bill Gibron

[30.Apr.09] :. With names like Tarantino, Lee, and Zombie, the final month of the season pulls out all the film geek stops. Still, the only guarantee is familiarity, not freshness.

The PopMatters Summer 2009 Movie Preview

News

Without a ‘Doubt,’ this is one fine movie

by Bruce Dancis

[6.Apr.09] :. “Doubt,” the excellent movie John Patrick Shanley adapted and directed from his Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning play, works on many levels. Like the play, the film is set in 1964 in a...

PopWire

Film DVD Review

Ironweed

by Matt Mazur

[26.Mar.09] :. Besting Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Paul Newman, Jason Robards and Sam Shepard, Jack Nicholson gives one of his most complicated, consuming performances.

Recent DVD reviews

Column: The Box Office Belletrist

Woolf at the Door

by Jennifer Makowsky

[1.Mar.09] :. Both Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Michael Cunningham's The Hours offer an illuminating look at the choices we make, the roles we play, and the hours that hinge our lives together.

Recent columns

News

Five questions with ... Oscar nominee Viola Davis of ‘Doubt’

by John Metz [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[19.Feb.09] :. Viola Davis seemingly has rocketed onto the scene with her strong performance as Mrs. Miller in “Doubt,” a role that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. But the...

PopWire

This year’s Supporting Actor?

by Rafer Guzman [Newsday (MCT)]

[19.Feb.09] :. When it comes to the best supporting actor Oscar, the winning hand could be held by The Joker. That, of course, is the late Heath Ledger, whose eye-popping turn as The Joker in “The Dark...

OMG - The 20 Worst Films of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[15.Jan.09] :. There's bad, and then there's 2008 level bad. You know this list is looking down into a deep dark bottomless pit of cinematic despair when Mike Myers' shameful Love Guru didn't even make the Top 20!

Iconic - The Top 20 Male Performances of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[14.Jan.09] :. Like the gladiators of old, 2008 resembles a battle of formidable acting gods, especially when looking over the 20 choices presented below. Indeed, if anything, choosing a winner requires more of a leap of faith than any amount of critical skill - they all were that good.

Tough and Tender - The Top 20 Female Performances of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[14.Jan.09] :. Twenty talented ladies, 20 performances worthy of multiple little gold men. Unfortunately, as in all years, someone has to come out on top. But after looking over this impressive list, picking the preeminent turn of 2008 seems almost impossible.

Mamma Mia!

by Barbara Herman

[12.Jan.09] :. The kind of movie whose campiness you just have to give into if you want to enjoy it -- and then you'll have a blast.

In battle of stage vs. screen, the play wins

by Chris Jones [Chicago Tribune (MCT)]

[8.Jan.09] :. As movie adaptations of stage plays go, the recently released “Frost/Nixon” and “Doubt” are among the best of recent vintage, not least because the writers of the sourcing...

Mamma Mia!: 2-Disc Special Edition

by Bill Gibron

[14.Dec.08] :. Sometimes, the cinema can be a lot like oil and water. Certain facets of a film can struggle to stay together, eventually separating like the fabled proverbial liquids. While it’s possible to...

Doubt

by Cynthia Fuchs

[12.Dec.08] :. Sister James (Amy Adams) embodies her historical moment, yearning to believe, adhering to tradition, and yet also inspired by a changing world.

Shameful Exposure

by Chris Barsanti

[11.Dec.08] :. A fiery Kate Winslet saves morality tale in 'The Reader' while a similarly powerful Meryl Streep can't do the same for the overly certain 'Doubt'.

Film Raises ‘Doubt’ In Audiences As Well

by Bill Gibron

[11.Dec.08] :. Faith is a very tricky thing. Belief without a foundation in fact, or the possibility of proving either, gives religion its raison d’être, and skeptics their fodder for a hundred careful...

Talk, Talk, Talk: December 2008

by Bill Gibron

[12.Sep.08] :. Just like the end of an inspiring speech that may or may not succeed in making its point, these final four weeks before 2009 tend to define or defeat the entire awards season purpose.

Mamma Mia!

by Cynthia Fuchs

[18.Jul.08] :. Meryl Streep scampers and writhes with something like abandon in her tomboyish overalls, her glowing tan and perfectly arranged "wild" blond hair indicating Donna's stanch independence.

‘Mamma Mia!‘s’ Amanda Seyfried talks about the price of fame

by Howard Gensler [Philadelphia Daily News (MCT)]

[17.Jul.08] :. Amanda Seyfried (pronounced SIGH-frid) says that her big eyes make her look a bit like a frog. But the Amanda sitting across a small table last month in a suite at New York’s Ritz-Carlton...

‘Mamma’ Mangled

by Bill Gibron

[17.Jul.08] :. When it arrives in theaters tomorrow (18 July), Mamma Mia! will probably go down as one of the biggest hits of Summer 2008. It has all the elements that make for a bold box office champion -...

The Return of the Popcorn Circus: July 2008

by Bill Gibron

[30.Apr.08] :. And it just doesn't stop. If part two in this three-ring play was packed with well hyped product, July just keeps the receipt treats coming.

Gone and Not Forgotten: The PopMatters DVD Wish List

by Bill Gibron

[24.Jan.08] :. A lot of good movies are still missing from DVD. Here is a list of 25 that PopMatters feels have been unceremoniously left to simply fade away.

Iraq War-themed films can’t find an audience

by Soren Andersen [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[2.Jan.08] :. What if they made a war movie and nobody came to see it? No biggie. Individual films fail all the time for all kinds of reasons. Filmmaking is a crapshoot. Always has been. Always will be. The...

In ‘Lions for Lambs,’ cool icon turns passionate political advocate

by Carrie Rickey [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[9.Nov.07] :. PHILADELPHIA—Sundance fever. Happens every time Robert Redford comes to the University of Pennsylvania. Back in `98, the president and deans panted like fangirls. This time, undergrads are...

Lions for Lambs

by Cynthia Fuchs

[9.Nov.07] :. Though Lions barely considers the soldiers' choices, it's clear they've been egregiously misinformed, turned into terms in someone else's argument.

Today’s foreign wars are Hollywood hell

by Lewis Beale [Newsday (MCT)]

[9.Nov.07] :. This is not your grandfather’s war. This war is unpopular and controversial, seemingly endless. But that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from releasing a series of films about Iraq and its evil...

Redford says ‘Lions for Lambs’ isn’t just another Iraq war movie

by Rick Bentley [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[6.Nov.07] :. SAN FRANCISCO—Actor and political activist Robert Redford learned a lifelong lesson when he was a teenager. “At 18, I went to the University of Colorado. I was asked to leave after a...

Hollywood becomes an unlikely - but effective - teacher

by John Crewdson [Chicago Tribune (MCT)]

[25.Oct.07] :. A young woman goes to see “Blood Diamond” because she admires Leonardo DiCaprio. Later, she and her fiance stop by a jewelry store to pick out their engagement rings. “No blood...

Rendition

by Cynthia Fuchs

[19.Oct.07] :. Rendition is worried about torture. Specifically, it's worried about Americans torturing other people while saying they're not.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

by Matt Mazur

[6.Feb.07] :. According to this film women in power are cruel, lonely, and constantly paranoid; not to mention supremely non-sexual.

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

by Michael Buening

[16.Oct.06] :. That a down home jamboree could be interesting to heavy-metal loving middle school students speaks to its wide.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[30.Jun.06] :. 'You sold your soul the first time you put on that pair of Jimmy Choos.' So ascertains Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), editor-in-chief at Runway magazine, disdainful of her self-doubting assistant. And so she summarizes yet another tale of a little girl who finds corruption in the big city.

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

by Matt Mazur

[9.Jun.06] :. A Prairie Home Companion combines typical Altman strategies, like overlapping dialogue and converging multiple storylines, as well as his fanatical appreciation for the process of creating art.

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[9.Jun.06] :. You might call A Prairie Home Companion an unlikely Lindsay Lohan movie. You could also call it the best work she's done, the best work she's likely to do, or the best chance she's had to do good work.

Prime (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[28.Oct.05] :. Wise and soothing, Lisa occasionally sounds more like a girlfriend than the usual movie shrink, and this is, you think, a good thing.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: Special Collector’s Edition (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[14.Apr.05] :. Based on three Snicket books, the film mostly takes the kids' perspective, and so delights in the gooey and the ooky.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[22.Dec.04] :. Demme's movie reasserts that the fabled U.S. political landscape isn't transparent or democratic, but instead, corrupted by the individuals who manage it.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[17.Dec.04] :. Elastic and not a little ewwwy, Jim Carrey's Olaf is fond of his own unclever pronouncements and unsubtle when it comes to plotting.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[30.Jul.04] :. The Manchurian Candidate draws a line between the corporation and the government, sustaining a hope that the U.S. system might be salvaged by an honestly free election.

Heartburn (1986)

by James Oliphant

[12.Jul.04] :. In Heartburn, we're not privy to any clues that Mark might be the unfaithful party, even though we know it's a plot device coming down the track like a Metroliner.

Angels in America

by Todd R. Ramlow

[22.Dec.03] :. By far the most resonant aspect of Angels in America today is its exposure of simplistic struggles over definitions of 'good' and 'evil'.

The Hours (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[14.Jul.03] :. 'What I learned seeing the movie is that yes, you do lose that ability to go into people's minds, but you gain Meryl Streep's ability to separate an egg, in a way that tells you everything you need to know about who that person is at that point.'"

Adaptation (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[28.May.03] :. Careens between fiction and confession, repetition and revelation.

The Hours (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[16.Jan.03] :. The women are also functions of a coherent narrative, made comprehensible as embodiments of historical patterns.

Adaptation (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[6.Dec.02] :. Careens between fiction and confession, repetition and revelation.

Music of the Heart (1999)

by Anne Daugherty

Music of the Heart tells a terrific story of passion, music, and success. The problem with this film is that director Wes Craven is so intent on telling the story, its very seamlessness becomes a drawback. In short, this movie is too much Hollywood and not enough grit.