Peter Murmann

Is it more accurate to see life as a comedy or a tragedy? This philosophical question gives Woody Allen the hook to explore the complications that arise when an old friend shows up at her friend’s dinner party with more than a little bit of baggage. I was intrigued enough to take another look at [Read More]

Closer is depressing in every respect. Nobody gets closer to love, to beauty, to understanding. Not the writer of the script (Patrick Marber), not the director (Mike Nichols), not the viewer (you and me). Watching the film, I felt real anxiety about getting old. Almost 40 years ago Mike Nichols directed Who is Afraid of [Read More]

On an abstract level all novels are either stories about travel or character development.  The first half of The Motor Cycle Diaries falls solidly in the travel category.  Not being burdened by responsibilities for others, two young people decide to take a motorcycle tour through the different countries of South America. The camera captures arresting [Read More]

This enchanting film dramatizes how the playwright James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) created with his best known work, Peter Pan. In 1903 Barrie’s latest play is a total failure with audiences and critics alike. To distract himself from his creative problems,  Barrie (Johnny Depp) starts playing daily with the four fatherless boys and their widow mother [Read More]

The Aviator received the most Academy Award nominations for the year 2004, with 11 total. This is very difficult to understand because the film is a painfully weak piece of work for Martin Scorcese (director) and John Logan (writer). Both Scorcese in Gangs of New York and Logan in The Last Sumarai have [Read More]

Men on Fire is the most fantastic thriller in years. It pulls off what most films of this genre lack: Emotional depth in the midst of an action-driven plot.  Denzel Washington plays John Creasy, a retired CIA operative/contract killer whose conscience has got the better of him and led him to the whiskey bottle. Visiting [Read More]

I am not much of a fan of the Sci-fi genre, but this film kept me entertained while sitting on a plane. It is based on a book by Isaac Asimonov, who was clearly informed about the debates philosophers carried out over the last 5 decades concerning artificial intelligence. Will it ever be possible [Read More]

This is one film that deserves an unequivocal endorsement: Absolutely beautiful! It is a feast for the eyes and for the heart. You don’t want to miss this motion picture event.

The Butterfly effect was coined by scientists who discovered that small changes can have dramatic consequences over long distances (both in space and time). A hurricane in the U.S. may have been set off by the flap of a butterfly wing in Honk Kong. The film applies this idea to the life of individual people. [Read More]

I rented this movie because I heard that Tom Hank’s who plays an FedEx employee shipwrecked on a small island entertains you all by himself for an hour and a half. It is not true. The movie is painfully slow in large part because it has nothing significant to say.  I had so much time [Read More]