http://thecineman.baywords.com Capsulized Reviews by Phil Calabro Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:49:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The musical 'Nine', written and composed by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit, was adapted from Fellini's '8½' - but the title is a misnomer. Yes, 'Nine' is supposed to represent the 9th film of fictional protagonist Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis), who trods through the picture pulling at his hair, donning ... http://thecineman.baywords.com/2010/01/06/nine-2009/ Guy Ritchie ratchets up the action in his adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's astute sleuth 'Sherlock Holmes', but also remembers what's elementary to the character. Swashbuckling yet studious, living in apparent chaos yet delivering results of utter preciseness, the production falls together neatly - but there's far too much Hollywood ... http://thecineman.baywords.com/2009/12/26/sherlock-holmes-2009/ In Nancy Meyers' 'It's Complicated', Meryl Streep plays Jane Adler - a successful restauranteur divorcee in her 50s, who lives in a palace off the coast of Santa Barbara. She's cavorting with her successful Porsche-driving lawyer ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin), while fooling around with equally-successful recent divorcee and architect Adam ... http://thecineman.baywords.com/2009/12/23/its-complicated-2009/ 'Avatar', former wunderkind James Cameron's eighth feature-length, is a juggernaut of a production: it will not tolerate failure. Director/writer Cameron spent 11 years perfecting the 3D Fusion Camera System and motion-capture soundstage that gives the epic its soon-to-be trademark look. It's a gorgeous film to sit and watch, especially in ... http://thecineman.baywords.com/2009/12/23/avatar-2009/ "How do we inspire ourselves to greatness, when nothing else will do?" asks Nelson Mandela of South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar in 'Invictus'. And what a question, but director Clint Eastwood seems to think it involves hammering his audience with the same pedestrian message over and over again. That ... http://thecineman.baywords.com/2009/12/08/invictus-2009/