Danny Collins

Review by Pamela Zoslov
 

A British folk singer, Steve Tilston, sat for an interview in 1971 with a London underground-music magazine called ZigZag. The interviewer asked Tilston whether he thought fame and fortune would affect his music. Tilston replied, “Yes, it would have a very detrimental effect.”

John Lennon read the interview, and wrote Tilston a letter. In it, the ex-Beatle shared his own thoughts on fame, fortune and music. "Being rich doesn't change your experience in the way you think,” Lennon wrote in his highly recognizable hand. “The only difference basically is that you don't have to worry about money - food - roof - etc, but all other experiences - emotions - relationships - are the same as anybody's. I know, I've been rich and poor and so has Yoko," Lennon wrote, “So whadya think of that,” and shared his phone number , inviting Tilston to call him and talk.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Review by Matt Finley

Disney's ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY is the latest effort to wring a feature-length family film from a single-sitting children's picture book, in the case Judith Viorst’s 1972 classic of the same name. Having sat through similar adaptations of wildly varying quality, from Spike Jones' sublime WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE to the execrable THE CAT IN THE HAT, the bracingly hilarious CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS to average ol’ JUMANJI, I had no idea where on this specialized cinematic bell curve ALEXANDER, directed by Miguel Arteta (CEDAR RAPIDS), would fall.

The answer: right at the tippy-top peak of mediocrity, superlatively lukewarm.

Draft Day

Review by Pete Roche

Are you ready for some football?

Are you ready for some Cleveland Browns football…in April? 

High-five!

Yes, thanks to modern movie technology, filmmakers can do just about anything:  They can make Superman fly, resurrect the dinosaurs, transform a mild-mannered scientist into a raging Hulk, and yes…director Ivan Reitman (STRIPES, GHOSTBUSTERS) can turn the perennially-losing Brownies into a champs just in time for Easter dinner.

Dallas Buyers Club

Review by Pamela Zoslov

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB features two amazing transformations: Matthew McConaughey, who lost more than 50 pounds to play the gaunt, AIDS-stricken Ron Woodroof, and Jared Leto, who fasted down to 116 pounds to become the ailing transvestite Rayon. The physical metamorphoses, though truly impressive and inevitably catnip for people who enjoy Oscar handicapping, are only part of what makes DBC a remarkable movie.

The movie was inspired by a Dallas Life Magazine article about Woodroof, a Texas electrician, sometime rodeo bull rider and loose-living good-ol' boy who was diagnosed with the AIDS virus in the mid-'80s, and devoted the rest of his life to procuring and smuggling unapproved substances to prolong the lives and alleviate the suffering of AIDS patients. (You can read the original article here.) Shot in a quick 25 days with available light and hand-held cameras, the film has a gritty, realistic look that befits the fact-based story. The screenplay was based heavily on recorded interviews with Woodroof before he died in 1992.