Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast   New Releases for 1/27/12 Albert Nobbs (R) Starring: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston Directed by: Anthony Hemingway Because it has worked so well in the past, every Oscar season seems to have a film starring a woman playing a man—(Hilary Swank “Boys Don’t Cry,” Felicity Huffman “Transamerica,” Tilda Swinton “Orlando,” Linda Hunt “The Year of Living Dangerously,”and even Julie Andrews in the gender-bending “Victor/Victoria”). This time, it’s two actresses donning men’s attire. Glenn Close… Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast New Releases for 1/20/12   Red Tails (PG-13) Starring: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston Directed by: Anthony Hemingway I keep reading that this is “a story never told” in the press releases, but there was a fine 1995 movie called “The Tuskegee Airmen,” honoring the first African American fighter pilots. With great actors like Laurence Fishburne, Andre Braugher and Cuba Gooding Jr. in the cockpits, this film worked better on the ground than… Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast New Releases for 1/13/12 Beauty and the Beast 3-D (G) Starring the voices of: Angela Lansbury, Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Jerry Orbach. David Ogden Stiers Directed by: Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale The seamless depiction of the tessellated floor in the original version was an astounding piece of animation as the camera angles constantly shifted while Belle and the the Beast waltzed around the ballroom. This digitalized, 3-D works beautifully in some scenes (like the riotous Gaston… Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast   New Releases for 1/06/12 Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy (R) Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong Directed by: Tomas Alfredson What took almost seven hours in the 1979 BBC-TV miniseries starring Alec Guinness, runs two hours and eight minutes in this anti-James Bond cold-war spy thriller. Based on John Le Carre’s novel, director Tomas Alfredson, has tightened the tension while leaving the buttoned-down bureaucracy intact. Gary Oldman is superb… Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast   There’s some good movies in the pipeline (The Iron Lady, Pariah, A Separation), but they aren’t available locally. Instead, catch these 3 and ½ and 4 pieces of toast films held over for the week of 12/30/11 The Adventures of Tintin (PG) Steven Spielberg’s first animated film uses the classic Belgian comic books created by Herge’ and enjoys making movies again. 4 pieces of Tintin triumphant toast   The Artist (PG-13) Michel Hazanavicius
silently beguiles and entertains with a tale of… Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast NEW RELEASES for 12/23/11   Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (PG-13) Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyquist Directed by: Brad Bird Brad Bird has managed to bring his Pixar perfectionism with him, and direct his mega-star to turn off the “cruise-control” and actually do something more than flashing his dimples. The result is an extraordinarily enthralling action movie—the best since “The Bourne Ultimatum.” As almost everyone knows, “the Secretary will disavow “… Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast New Releases for 12/16/11   Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (PG-13) Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Naomi Rapace, Stephen Fry, Jared Harris Directed by: Gut Ritchie Dr. Watson is getting  married, but if he thinks Holmes will let him have a suitable bachelor party, wedding and honeymoon, then he underestimates his mercurial friend. For Professor Moriarty has resurfaced, and the arch-fiend has aligned himself with bomb-throwing anarchists bent on toppling the crown… Read More »

My wife refuses to see any more films by the Spanish genius Pedro Almodovar, and there is no way I will be able to convince her to see The Skin I Live In. The premise is creepy, the movie disturbing, the acting intense, the setting Gothic, and the screenplay is drawn from the pages of the DSM5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Think of the lead character as a plastic surgeon with a Dr. Frankenstein complex who creates a resilient artificial skin to use in skin grafts, so he kidnaps an unwilling guinea pig to test his new product and, at the same time, avenge a rape, infant swap, murder and fiery suicide. … Read More »

NOTE: A handful of of 3 and 1/2 and 4 pieces of toast films from last week have been held over because of a strong response from local audiences. This includes:

• The Muppets (4 pieces of it’s not easy being green toast)

• Hugo (3 and 1/2 pieces of more enjoyable in 2-D toast)

• Arthur Christmas (3 and 1/2 pieces of claymation Christmas toast)

• The Descendents (3 and 1/2 pieces of Oscar-bound toast)

• My Week With Marilyn (3 and 1/2 pieces of an Oscar nod to Michelle Williams toast).… Read More »

The lights have been dark in the former Muppet theater for over a decade, and the furry, feathered and Velcroed stars have scattered to the four corners of the Earth. But in The Muppet Movie, when a Texas Billionaire threatens to tear the place down and drill for oil, Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and their fans gather together to stage the Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever! Written by Jim Henson, Jason Siegel, and Nicholas Stoller, this feature-length movie captures the humor, joy, laughter and love that propelled the TV-show and the first Muppet Movie to greatness.
… Read More »