Wednesday, May 23 2012
Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel
Gone With The Wind is one of the most popular books ever published. More than 75 years after its publication, neither it nor its author are above controversy.
‘Grateful Dead: Dawn of the Dead’ Could Use More Life
Want to know the early history of the Grateful Dead? You may have to look no further than this review.
Tuesday, May 22 2012
Brainy is the New Sexy: ‘Sherlock Season Two’
Irene Adler aptly deduces that “Brainy is the new sexy.” Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes and the second season of Sherlock are just that--as well as increasingly popular around the world.
Hyper-Realism and Ultra-Feminism in Action: ‘Haywire’
Mallory Kane is a strong and principled woman immersed in a world of decadent masculinity.
Monday, May 21 2012
‘Appointment with Death’: Good Sunday Afternoon Matinee Material
A decade before Michael Winner's film career had its very own 'Appointment with Death', the controversial director made this passable adaptation of Agatha Christie's celebrated crime novel.
‘George Harrison: Living In the Material World’: The Definitive Statement on Harrison
This is a powerfully intimate portrait of a private man who led a very public life.
Friday, May 18 2012
Echotone: Austin, Texas: The Quiet Fight for a Louder Future
This is a scattershot documentary about live music in Austin, Texas, that features a lot of great material with local musicians, but bails out on its intriguing noise vs. neighbors premise early in the film.
Thursday, May 17 2012
‘Albatross’: A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film
The filmmakers very gently hew to recognizable formula in a way that suggests they’re not out to deliver anything greater than cinematic comfort food.
Wednesday, May 16 2012
Like a Jack London Story on Steroids: ‘The Grey’
A bleak, desolate setting full of bleak, desolate men: A group of oil workers survive a plane crash and have to fight a pack of wolves across the Alaskan wilderness.
Kate Beckinsale Shoots, Stabs and Blows Up Things in ‘Underworld: Awakening’
Even Selene's icy blue stare can't hypnotize us into having fun with this one.
Tuesday, May 15 2012
Painful Naïvety: ‘Albert Nobbs’
Albert Nobbs, the story of a woman living as a man in 19th century Dublin, is a film that quietly and subtly explores not only gender roles, but identity at its most basic level.
A Different Kind of Wilderness: ‘A Lonely Place to Die’
There are clever twists and surprises here, but we never connect with anyone enough to transcend the genre.
Monday, May 14 2012
Hard, Onerous, and Routinely Dangerous Work: ‘House of Pleasures’
This is an exquisite film set in the twilight of the high class Parisian brothel. It's languid, even sleepy, and yet utterly spellbinding.
‘The Man Nobody Knew’ Leaves Us Searching for Its Mysterious Titular Character
What could have been Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets My Architect, is instead The Fog of War meets 60 Minutes. But without much bite.
Friday, May 11 2012
A Neophyte and a Cosmopolitan Get Together and Create Magic: ‘David Lean Directs Noël Coward’
A beautiful chronicle of British life during the war, a perfect example of propaganda and a detailed examination of creative evolution, this boxset is sure to become a staple in film lovers' libraries.
Thursday, May 10 2012
Steerage: ‘A Night to Remember’
The ship of dreams as seen in Roy Ward Baker’s film is an angry, socialist piece about the unfairnesses that would strike British people in the years that came after the war.
‘Return’: A Movie About War, Defined by Silence
We come to see that Return doesn’t, finally, mean going home. It just means going back.
Wednesday, May 9 2012
‘Oscar Peterson’s Easter Suite Jazz’ Is Good, but Redundant
Isca Peterson is as brilliant as ever, but the short length and so-so visual value of this DVD makes one wonder why they didn't just release a live CD, instead.
A Religion Not of Benevolence, but of Egocentrism: ‘The Wicker Tree’
The Wicker Tree presents an unembroidered critic to dogmatic institutions.
Tuesday, May 8 2012
Nothing Shameful in ‘Shame’
Everyone involved in Shame, including the deservedly-praised Michael Fassbender, should be quite proud of their distressing product.
