Tag: Sydney Pollack

REVIEW: Amazing Grace [2019]

Jared Mobarak

We want you to let the folks know you’re here. Released in 1972, Aretha Franklin‘s live album with Reverend James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir entitled Amazing Grace took the country by storm selling over two million copies in America alone on its way to double platinum certification. Knowing it was going to be special, Warner Bros. hired a film crew and director Sydney Pollack to record everything for an accompanying documentary much like they did with Woodstock and Michael Wadleigh two years prior. Fresh off his first…

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REVIEW: Eyes Wide Shut [1999]

Jared Mobarak

“Fidelio” Would you gamble everything for lust? Is thinking about infidelity as egregious an offence as the act itself? After all, faithfulness isn’t merely a construct of the physical world—our trust and respect goes beyond the exterior into the very fibers of our being to make the words “I’d never cheat on you” flow effortlessly and involuntarily from our lips even when thinking about the person we’d commit it with in a heartbeat. But lust clouds our judgment. It makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do. It allows for…

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REVIEW: The Player [1992]

Jared Mobarak

“… with a heart” When thinking about a satire on Hollywood, the idea to glorify its luck, ego, and excess rather than vilify probably wouldn’t be the direction your mind gravitates towards. To some extent this may ensure the exercise will prove pointless because the message shifts from showing everything wrong that needs fixing into everything wrong that you can also enjoy if the opportunity to join the hedonistic fun ever presented itself. You wouldn’t necessarily take the time to lambast if you weren’t angry at the status quo and…

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REVIEW: Made of Honor [2008]

Jared Mobarak

“A long line of Athels” The most I can ask for when sitting down to watch a romantic comedy as obvious and clichéd as Made of Honor is to be entertained. Going in I knew there was no way it could wow me, but I did see a glimmer of potential. After the credits rolled, I must admit, I thought to myself that I wouldn’t mind checking it out again in the future if the opportunity presented itself. That said, don’t go thinking I’m going to go buy the dvd…

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REVIEW: Michael Clayton [2007]

Jared Mobarak

“Is that the answer to the multiple choice question of me?” The man behind the scripts for the Bourne trilogy (and The Cutting Edge) has decided to step into the director’s chair for his new film Michael Clayton. Along with an A-list producing crew (Sydney Pollack, Steven Soderbergh, Anthony Minghella) Tony Gilroy has assembled a brilliant cast of big names and familiar faces. After the action-packed Matt Damon-starrers he decided to go more psychological in the thriller category. It would be tough for a first-time director to choreograph extended fight…

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