Peter Murmann

Mamia Mia!, this was worse than I had feared.  I did not even get a great tour of the Greek islands. I was the first to leave the cinema. Now I was watching people coming out.  Women smiled, men looked pained, albeit a bit proud they took their lady to the movies.  Cinema, in my [Read More]

We Own the Night transports you back into the disco era. Drugs were a big part the Studio 54 scene (I visited famous disco once before it closed and marveled about Grace Jones’s rooftop haircut). One son of a family of senior police officials son a night club. Before long he has to choose [Read More]

Both films have high ambitions: they want to capture the spirit driving American society. In the Coen brothers’ No Country For Good Men America is at its core only greed and violence. The writer and director of There Will Be Blood offer a more balanced and accurate depiction of America. There is [Read More]

About three years ago I acquired a collection of the best Bob Dylan records. I was surprised how many songs I knew, reminding me just how influential Dylan’s music had been during the past four decades. I am not there is an artistic experiment that manages to be a total failure. Todd Haynes wants to [Read More]

La Vie en Rose is the mirror image of August Rush. Telling the story Edid Piaf’s exotic life, the film easily feels real and authentic. For an ear that grew up on pop and classical music, it is difficult to connect to the French style of singing in the 1920s and 1930s. I could not [Read More]

Enjoying music seems to be hardwired into our brains. The wild success of the iPod is strong testimony that everyone loves music. I have yet to meet someone who does not like to listen to melodic sounds. August Rush is a 10-year old boy stuck in an orphanage somewhere just outside of New York City. [Read More]

Hollywood gives you an entertaining history lesson on how the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a likable congressman who is more interested in alcohol and good-looking women than passing any law. While he lacks diligence and determination on the congressional floor, he recruits what he regards a dream-team staff:  all [Read More]

It is difficult for me to write these lines about such a charming film.  The plot has a number of unfortunate flaws.  Juno, the character and the actress playing the role, are magnificent. But the story feels constructed by a writer rather than based on real lived experience. Juno is barely sixteen and seduces a [Read More]

The first 45 minutes of this sequel about the life of Queen Elizabeth are the most gratifying film opening I have experienced in months. It is not the plot that glues your eyes to the screen but the way the director shoots the scenes and moves quickly from one location to another. The camera is [Read More]

This dark, prohibition era, film is a bit hard to swallow.  By design it is unlike The Untouchables where good triumphs over evil.  Human life does not count for much in a Mafia-ruled Midwestern town. The film has a number of technical flaws that disturb the attentive viewer. The most intriguing feature of the film [Read More]