Features
Monday, March 28 2011
National Theatre Live Shocks 'Frankenstein' Back to Life
Why did you create me? The plaintive question adorning National Theatre Live posters may echo critics’ question about the need for yet another in a long line of Frankensteins. Previous Frankensteins and monsters have been entertaining but less socially relevant. The National Theatre’s production, as directed by Oscar-winner Danny Boyle, to use a cliché, is Alive!
Wednesday, January 12 2011
The Best Films of 2010
Among this year's winners include a fake documentary, a comedy about Jihad, a vampire story NOT dealing with tacky tween romance, a haunting hillbilly noir, and an elegant tale about clones. Not necessarily the usual cinematic suspects.
Wednesday, January 5 2011
The Best Male Film Performances of 2010
Heroes and villains, criminals and crazed creative types: the 20 best male performances of 2010 definitely run the dramatic/comedic character topography... with a few unusual turns tossed in for good measure.
Monday, April 13 2009
India Shining?: America's Indian Moment
Perhaps Slumdog Millionaire is an elaborate, cinematic version of Bobby Jindal. Perhaps Western audiences have so deeply appreciated Boyle's film because it subtly reiterates a symbolic order that is as familiar as colonial conquest.
Friday, January 16 2009
The New Classics - The 30 Best Films of 2008
Unlike previous years, where classics came crawling out of the celluloid woodwork with regular reckless abandon, 2008 was more calm… and considered. That's not to say that choosing 30 top titles was hard. The difficulty in placing them in some manner of rank order suggests the actual depth of quality involved.
Columns
Friday, January 16 2009
Slumdog Millionaire: All Eyes East
Slumdog Millionaire's Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture/Drama is like a flare warning Hollywood about its future in cinema.
Reviews
Wednesday, September 28 2011
'Trainspotting': Depravity Raised to an Art Form
Not since William S. Burroughs' The Naked Lunch has there been such a lyrical evocation of the nastiness of a life on junk.
Wednesday, March 30 2011
In a Canyon Fissure, No One Can Hear You Scream: '127 Hours'
Lost in God’s Country: Danny Boyle gets trapped in the Utah Desert.
Friday, November 5 2010
'127 Hours': Heading Out
At the start of 127 Hours, Aron is headed out, a direction, he reveals in voiceover, he perceives as a moral and philosophical imperative.
Wednesday, November 12 2008
Slumdog Millionaire
In Slumdog Millionaire's riotous, luscious fantasy, Jamal responds to an astonishing series of game show questions -- each speaking directly and surreally to his own life experiences.
Friday, July 20 2007
Sunshine (2007)
The notion of loss pervades Sunshine, even as calculations of self are increasingly complex.
Blogs
Thursday, February 24 2011
National Theatre Live's Frankenstein Trailer is a Worthy Experiment
How best to capture the mirrored, tortured psyches of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature within 61 brief seconds? National Theatre Live’s Frankenstein trailer intercuts dialogue…
Wednesday, November 24 2010
Survival of the Fittest: '127 Hours'
127 Hours is not a perfect film, but it's a death defying feat of motion picture magic to be sure.
Wednesday, February 25 2009
Blaxploitation & 'Slumdogs Can't Have Dignity' - A Critical Response to Indian Media Coverage
Unlike comic book superheroes, Slumdog hit a bit closer under our bellies with our eyes wide shut. Yet, now that “we” have had our eyes opened, will “we” place Third World poverty into another, more entertaining box?
Wednesday, January 21 2009
Dickens - Bollywood Style: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
“Serendipity” originated in India. The word derives from the old Persian name for Sri Lanka, and tells the story of three princes who went on…
Thursday, December 18 2008
'Slumdog' Sizzles as One of Year's Very Best
We all want to escape - our sense of self, our worthless lives, those moments of unfulfilling social conformity. Yet few of us have to…
News
Monday, November 1 2010
Some viewers faint during '127 Hours', but is that a marketing nightmare or dream?
LOS ANGELES — Two at the Telluride Film Festival, three at the Toronto International Film Festival and one at the Mill Valley Film Festival. If…
Friday, October 29 2010
In trying to get '127 Hours' off the ground, Danny Boyle took a cue from his bold subject
BLUE JOHN CANYON, Utah — Danny Boyle could barely be heard over the low-flying helicopter. "It's like 'Apocalypse Now,'" he yelled as he fastened his…
Friday, March 13 2009
‘Slumdog' popularity shines spotlight on Indian designers, fashions
If there was ever a time we needed a Mumbai makeover -- or at least a nudge toward the cheery colors, metallic threads and dazzling…
Thursday, February 19 2009
'Slumdog Millionaire' leads the best picture pack
Hate it or love it, the underdog is on top. Not long ago, the movie to beat at this year's Oscars seemed to be "The…
Wednesday, February 18 2009
Truth, fiction face off — and 'Slumdog' will likely take the lead
There really is no backlash when it comes to "Slumdog Millionaire," the best bet to take home the best picture Academy Award next Sunday. It's…
