RobertHilburnOnline.com
  • HOME
  • ABOUT BOB
  • PAUL SIMON: THE LIFE
    • PAUL SIMON: THE LIFE PRESS
    • WHY PAUL SIMON?
  • JOHNNY CASH: THE LIFE
  • CORN FLAKES WITH JOHN LENNON
  • SPRINGSTEEN
  • ROCK N ROLL TIMES
    • TROUBADOUR
    • PULITZER WORTHY
    • RARE DYLAN CASH
  • ALBUM OF THE WEEK
  • PHOTOS
  • CONTACT

MOVIES: "My Dog Tulip," "Secretariat" and "Hereafter"

10/29/2010

0 Comments

 
MY DOG TULIP

Disappointing dog story

   My wife and I are serious dog lovers (we have an English bulldog named Oliver Hardy and a boxer named Katharine Hepburn), so we couldn’t resist seeing this adult-aimed animated feature based on a book by English man of letters J.R. Ackerley. After about 20 minutes, however, I realized that while there must be 1,000 great dog stories, this is one I don’t care about.  I admired the animation and some of the philosophical asides in the tale about a man and his 15-year devotion to his equally devoted German shepherd. Mostly, however, I was eager for the film—with its emphasis on the dog’s bowel and mating attempts—to end so we could get home to our own four-leggeds.

 

SECRETARIAT

Great horse, conventional film

    Some people—including the film-makers—feel that Secretariat was the greatest race horse ever and you can’t resist pulling for Big Red as he goes after racing’s celebrated triple crown.  Beyond the basic lure of the Secretariat legend, however, the film itself is corny and conventional. To give the audience someone to root against (it’s hard to make a rival horse a villain), the film-makers devote far too much footage to the rival horse’s arrogant, obnoxious owner. The film does come alive when John Malkovich steps in as a colorful, eccentric horse trainer, but neither he nor the Secretariat story is enough get the film even close to the winner’s circle.

 

HEREAFTER

Eastwood disappoints--again

   Going against the odds by moving successfully from TV to films and from acting to direction, Clint Eastwood has had a remarkable career, but he is on a losing streak. Except for showcasing the exquisite Cecile De France and a spectacular opening tsunami scene, there is little to recommend this dreary effort. It is the latest step in the “un-doing” of his credibility. “Hereafter” is unfocused, “Invictus” was undramatic and “Changeling” was unwatchable.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Robert Hilburn

         I was pop music critic and pop music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 through 2005, and am writing books.  A memoir, "Corn Flakes with John Lennon" was published last fall.  The paperback is due in October.  I am now working on a biography.
    Photo by Jeff Amlotte, copyright 2009.

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2012
    January 2012
    July 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    May 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture

HOME

CONTACT

Copyright © 2019