|
www.kevacho.com
©2002-2024
Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Go Back To Reviews
Title: CALVARY
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Year: 2014
Reviewed: February 05, 2015
| Rating: |
|
 | |
| |
| |
| |
Four Course Meal-Highest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
|
|
|
Message to Hollywood... stop doing re-boots, or re-makes, or whatever the hell it is you're calling them. There's a large part of me that laments for the past when I could count on original and exciting concepts erupting from Hollywood every month. Now all we have are facsimiles of films that, for the most part, were done as well as they could have been done, or literal frame by frame, shot by shot copies devoid of any identity or unique aesthetic. What with the announcement that they're re-booting "Ghost Busters" and "Indiana Jones" I no longer fear, I intrinsically know, that the future is going to be a dark, unimaginative place. And I weep. What next? A re-boot of "Schindler's List". A re-make of "Unforgiven". Why don't we do "First Blood" again and "Gladiator" and "Brave Heart". Let's re-make "Dances With Wolves" and make sure all the bison are cartoons. And since were re-booting every wonderful movie from my formative years why stop there: "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Legend"!
Thank the gods of film that there is still the foreign market bringing us writer/directors like the McDonagh brothers, artists like Miyazaki, entertainers like Besson, and visionaries like Boyle.
"Calvary" is as good as it gets. Well shot. Well acted. Well written. Well directed. Not to mention that the subject matter is important, thought provoking, and charged with literal drama. Rush to see this movie, it burns slowly and with an intelligence and sensitivity now rarely seen in modern movies. You know what it is? "Calvary" is art. Pure and simple.
'Nough said, "Calvary" gets a very high FOUR COURSE MEAL review.
Oh! And my favorite older actor, Brendan Gleeson, is nothing short of magnificent.
|
|
