Isaac's Film Reviews

Greater than the sum of its great parts Full review by Isaac Handelman The title Captain Phillips is deceiving, as Captain Phillips isn’t really about Captain Phillips at all. He’s the driving force of the narrative, and he’s a dependable presence to root for, but his character is not what makes Captain Phillips a phenomenal film -- which it is, without a shadow of a doubt. Sure, Tom Hanks delivers one of the finest performances of his career. Sure, the film is chock full of nail-biting intensity. But, at its core, Captain Phillips is about Somalian pirate Muse (Barkhad Abdi). The film takes a while to get going; it spends a significant amount of time showing its two main players, Captain Phillips and Muse, preparing for their respective voyages. Phillips can best be described as a slow boil; the opening section of the film can be grating and somewhat uninteresting, but by the film’s close, the slow opening is justified by some truly magnificent payoff. Once Captain Phillips...

Let go; be swept away. Full, spoiler-free review by Isaac Handelman The question that overwhelmed me while watching Alfonso Cuaron’s eerie space drama Gravity was simply, “Why has no one thought to make this movie before?” The premise is simple: two astronauts fall victim to a freak accident during a by-the-numbers research mission, and find themselves drifting through space in a desperate search for a way back to Earth. Racking my mind for a similar film, no examples come to mind. That’s surprising, but fortunate, as Gravity breaks into unexplored territory with confidence and sheeny spectacle. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney headline Gravity as astronauts Stone and Kowalski, respectively, but let’s not kid ourselves; the real star of the show is the visuals. Bullock plays her party in a predictably solid manner, and Clooney’s presence is a comfort. Yet, the two aren’t given much in the way of substance. In fact, Gravity ’s weakest points come when it tries to flesh out i...