Wednesday, May 22 2013
Waiting to Be Discovered: ‘Starlet’
In the land of make-believe where even dogs can have alter egos, jobs don’t define you, mistakes can be overcome, and it’s never too late to reestablish trust.
‘Nightfall’ Ramps Up the Tension and Subverts Expectations
A tortured detective hunts for a killer in this twisted modern noir tale.
Tuesday, May 21 2013
‘Captain America’: It’s Not That Bad
This much maligned film captures enough of the spirit of Captain America that Marvel fans will probably want to own this odd piece of ephemera from before the age when Marvel movies became a juggernaut.
‘Dark Circles’ Presents a Good Argument for Birth Control
When the kitchen sink starts calling you names, it's time to grab the baby and move out.
Monday, May 20 2013
‘Not Fade Away’ Shouldn’t, Yet Despite Its Title, It Does
The hype around David Chase's first film is, sadly, unfulfilled.
Put a Brown Wig on Lindsay Lohan and You Don’t Get Elizabeth Taylor, You Get: ‘Liz & Dick’
There's nothing remotely reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor in Lindsay Lohan, even in full make-up.
Friday, May 17 2013
‘Shanghai Noon’ / ‘Shanghai Knights’
Though they're not as fleet-footed as Chan's best Hong Kong features, Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights are probably his most aristically successful American productions.
Capitalism’s Self-Corrections: ‘Repo Man’
The Los Angeles imagined by this delightfully dark movie is one where the repo man picks up the Reaganite economy’s table scraps—and in the process self-corrects for capitalism’s shortcomings.
Thursday, May 16 2013
‘Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System’
There's a creative tension between wanting to capture a documentary sense of reality and the expressionist visuals used to capture the characters’ psychological reality.
‘Crimewave’ Is Just One Example of Sam Raimi’s Pulp-Slapstick Sensibility
With its grotesque caricatures, genre-kidding plot turns, and frequent violations of physics, Crimewave is the kind of goof that repulses mainstream audiences and delights movie-crazy geeks.
Tuesday, May 14 2013
‘Gamer 3D’s Depth is Purely Visual
Touching on societal anxieties about technological advancement, especially in terms of of free will, isolationism, desensitization, and sensationalism, Gamer makes no attempt to interrogate the issues it raises.
Monday, May 13 2013
‘Cloud Atlas’ Is an Ecstatic Exploration of Humanity
Adapted from David Mitchell's ambitious novel, Cloud Atlas is at once a visually rich Hollywood blockbuster and a philosophically driven experimental film.
The Diminishing Returns of ‘The Echo’
Hopefully the very last of an insipid glut of Asian-inspired horror remakes, The Echo strings multiple clichés together and is largely uninspired throughout.
Friday, May 10 2013
‘Mama’: Is the Possibility of Making an Innovative Scary Movie Literally Dead?
Two girls disappear into the wild and are discovered alive five years later. When they move in with family members, it soon becomes evident that something they left behind in the woods isn't ready to let them go.
Thursday, May 9 2013
Want a Mind-Blowing Literary High? Watch ‘Naked Lunch’
How do you picture the flumes of bodily excrescence that explode in Naked Lunch, its alien interrogators and masters of control hovering over bodies in pain and pleasure, the inward ecstasies and torment of bodies on a perpetual high?
Wednesday, May 8 2013
‘Norman’ Tests the Limits of Sympathy
As this film wears on, Norman starts to feel a bit like Macbeth with his misguided ambition.
Monday, May 6 2013
Apocalypse is Trending: ‘Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection
Cinematic viscera—mindlessly pulled from the horror film archive and chewed into a bloody mess.
‘Pawn’: A Film Unable to Ascend to Mediocrity
An ex-con, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, becomes indispensable to the robbers because of his shady past.
Thursday, May 2 2013
The Multifaceted Mind of B.S. Johnson: ‘You’re Human Like the Rest of Them’
The tragic writer and director was a fidgety renaissance man, and his filmic output, viewed in its entirety, is difficult to pigeonhole and categorise.
Wednesday, May 1 2013
The Plays of Life: ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
No matter how much live devolves into formula, we're all wackjobs underneath. That's what Silver Linings Playbook communicates resoundingly: for all of the blitzes and jukes we can concoct in a difficult game, we will always carry our flaws with us.
