Thursday, April 5 2012
Charlize Theron’s Controlled, Razor-Fanged Performance in ‘Young Adult’
Young Adult is as cynical and sad about the idea of nostalgia for teenage years as Juno was sweetly nostalgic about the ways that you can define yourself at that age.
‘Urbanized’: Hopeful Developments and Sobering Statistics
This is total immersion filmmaking, a crash course in all the elements of city life that concern planners, architects, politicians and activists: housing, transportation, growth, crime and sanitation.
Sadly, This Slow-Paced Slice of Life Never Overcomes Its Inertia: ‘My Tehran for Sale’
Trying to widen the distribution of foreign films is a worthy objective, but the movies themselves must merit the attention. In this case, Iran's fine cinematic history gets just a little less interesting.
Wednesday, April 4 2012
To Paraphrase Rick James, Cocaine Is a Hell of a Drug: ‘Wizards’
Wizards takes you on a psychedelic journey through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with wizards!
‘Alien Opponent’ Comes Close to Inspired Madness—then Spirals Away
When an alien crash lands in a backwoods junkyard, a crazy woman and her gold-digging daughter offer a reward to any lunatic crazy enough to kill the invader.
Tuesday, April 3 2012
‘War Horse’: Will the Cinematic Epic Suffer the Same Fate as the Venerable War Horse?
Steven Spielberg’s War Horse celebrates the story of Joey, a miraculous horse who brings out the humanity in those he meets. The director also exalts the art of old-fashioned filmmaking and helps audiences understand the complexity of making an epic.
She Elevates the Material She’s Given: ‘Gwyneth Paltrow: 4 Film Collection’
The Oscar winning actress may not have a trademark or especially impressive body of work, but these movies prove just how underrated Gwyneth Paltrow is.
Monday, April 2 2012
Savage, Sharp, Satirical and Brutally Funny: ‘Battle Royale: The Complete Collection’
Whether Suzanne Collins acknowledges it or not, her Hunger Games trilogy owes a huge debt to Battle Royale.
‘VIPs’: The True Story of Brazil’s Greatest Con Man
After making a name for himself starring as a cop in the gritty Elite Squad films, Brazilian star Wagner Moura is on the other side of the law as a con man in VIPs.
Friday, March 30 2012
Revisiting and Rethinking Two Classic Essay Films: ‘La Jetée’ and ‘Sans Soleil’
La Jetée and Sans Soleil are the kind of works that prompt repeated viewing and provoke thought and reflection on film, self, and world.
Thursday, March 29 2012
The Passion of ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’
In Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel, Jesus is treated as a real person, with doubts and hesitations, even potential weaknesses. More than once, he confesses these doubts: "I'm a liar, I'm a hypocrite, I'm afraid of everything."
Clever Manipulation: ‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’
Although she escaped physically, Martha remains trapped by her past experiences and can’t sever the connection.
Wednesday, March 28 2012
What Is True? Or, How Much of It Is True? Otto Preminger’s Classic: ‘Anatomy of a Murder’
Anatomy of a Murder is many things, equal parts courtroom drama, murder mystery, and at times, humorous and light, but above all else, it's a love letter to the law.
Shorts That Stand Tall: ‘Nine Nation Animation’
This is a charming, thoughtfully curated anthology of stylistically diverse international animated shorts.
Boy, are These Natives Restless: ‘Black Moon’
I'm willing to bet no movie of its time so brazenly aligned voodoo with black revolutionary politics.
Tuesday, March 27 2012
‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’ Aims High, Maybe Too High
Often, the simplest stories are the best and Angelina Jolie's directorial debut suffers from wanting to do too much, too soon.
There’s No Place in England for a Coward: ‘The Four Feathers’
This film is simultaneously war-time propaganda and social critique, both at the service, or even the mercy, of a lavish Technicolor production.
Don’t Be Mean: ‘The Sitter’
The Sitter was sold to moviegoers as an outrageous R-rated comedy, and sold by film critics as the nadir of former wunderkind David Gordon Green's descent into studio-comedy hackery. But it's too sweet for either of those distinctions.
Monday, March 26 2012
Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
A tribute to a director and producer who gave many of Hollywood's finest their start in the business, in spite of his bad films.
The American Dream, Deferred: ‘Bombay Beach’
Watching this movie is something like studying a mosaic one piece at a time; only when taken in total does the overall picture come into view.
