Features
Friday, January 14 2011
Rescripting the Western in 'No Country for Old Men'
How the Coen Brothers' ostensibly faithful award winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men diverges from its creator's rather questionable politics.
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.
Wednesday, January 14 2009
Iconic - The Top 20 Male Performances of 2008
Like the gladiators of old, 2008 resembles a battle of formidable acting gods, especially when looking over the 20 choices presented below. Indeed, if anything, choosing a winner requires more of a leap of faith than any amount of critical skill - they all were that good.
Tuesday, September 9 2008
Talk, Talk, Talk: September 2008
From wars both past and present to a number of nail-biting thrillers, September is sizing up as a potentially profitable one.
Friday, January 11 2008
A Gallery of Good Works: The Best Films of 2007
From Julian Schnabel's artsy The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to the legendary Coen Brothers splendid adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, PopMatters counts down the 30 best films of 2007.
Reviews
Friday, September 12 2008
Burn After Reading
Ozzie (John Malkovich) embodies the problem of the CIA, of the "intelligence community," which is that it reacts to data, then fashions a story about it to comport with the reaction.
Friday, November 9 2007
No Country for Old Men
The desolate landscape and moral layout evoke old Westerns, but the film, based on Cormac McCarthy's novel, also reconsiders the genre's conventions, comparing now and "the old times."
Sunday, January 1 1995
Blood Simple, The Directors' Cut (1984/2000)
Though shot on a shoestring budget by first-time feature filmmakers, the movie encapsulates all that has come to typify the Coen brothers' style: engaging narrative, inventive direction, and the juxtaposition of grim violence with moments of sublime, sometimes surreal, human behavior.
Blogs
Sunday, December 21 2008
Burn After Reading (2008)
The Coen Brothers remains the most predicable unpredictable artists in Hollywood. You can be guaranteed that the minute you think you have them pegged -…
News
Thursday, September 18 2008
Being John Malkovich brings many movie roles
TORONTO - John Malkovich is, well, being John Malkovich, although no portals affording entry to his mind seem to be in operation here at the…
Thursday, August 14 2008
How to play at being a villain: Bardem, Ledger reignite media interest in craft of acting
The verdict is nearly unanimous: As the Joker in "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger gives a great performance. But what exactly does that mean? As…
Sunday, February 24 2008
There will be confusion: Deliberately vague films leave critic cold
Walking out of a press screening of Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" in early November, I turned to a fellow critic in the…
Friday, February 22 2008
Joel and Ethan Coen's ‘No Country for Old Men' is favored for the Oscar
LOS ANGELES - On a Sunday night this past January, as the filmmaking brothers Ethan and Joel Coen were picking up one of several New…
Monday, November 12 2007
Sex and violence are not always gratuitous, directors say
What has more sex and violence than an episode of "The Jerry Springer Show"? The multiplex. You can pass through any neighborhood in America and…
