The Artist is charming, heart-warming, and fun, but I’m still uncertain why it’s destined to win the top prize at this year’s Academy Awards. To be fair, I accept that Best Picture rarely means “the best picture,” but I’m still confused about the source of all this hype. Michel Hazinavicius’ film is cute. It truly is, and […]
Being, seemingly, one of only two people across the globe who disliked Steig Larsson’s trilogy, I didn’t flock to see David Fincher’s screen adaptation. In part, there are certain plot points in the novel that just drive me a bit nuts, particularly the incredible progression of Blumquist’s discovery of a woman whose honeymoon fortuitously took place during […]
Ned lives contently with Willie Nelson (his dog) and girlfriend, Liz, somewhere in upstate New York. The vibe is reminiscent of hippiedom, or at least re-imagined hippiedom. Liz and Ned are idealists, which intones that they’re pacifists, and they often cite modes of non-violence when bickering. They work an organic farm, wear Crocks instead of Birkenstocks and […]
…in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? This century-old philosophical thought experiment is often conducted to explore the connection between our realities and observations. However, If a Tree Falls, the newly Academy Award nominated documentary, contends, the answer to this question is: “No, which is why the aggravated […]
Andrew Detmer (Dane Dehaan) is a high school-assassin waiting to happen. Despite his often stoic demeanor, an anger ebbs and flows underneath, occasionally manifesting itself in a frustrated outburst. If it’s possible, his aggression is justified: his alcoholic father (Michael Kelly) is verbally and physically abusive, occasionally jabbing Andrew’s temple with a quick right hand, knocking him out of […]
Tales of police corruption in cinema are a dime a dozen. Some are akin to Serpico. Others are like Brooklyn’s Finest. Then there’s The Guard, which resembles neither, but has been drastically overlooked in 2011. Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson star in this Irish comedy that follows unorthodox policeman Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) as he investigates a few […]
A Separation begins and ends in a similar way: a seemingly insurmountable, superficially minute amount of space in the labyrinthine corridors of the Iranian judicial system. To begin Simin and Nader plead their case to an off-screen interrogator (Babak Karimi) who sits precisely at the camera’s lens. He is seen throughout the rest of the movie – […]
Similar to last year’s Restrepo, this year’s Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary, Hell and Back Again, looks at the trials and tribulation within the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan, centering, for the most part, on the rhetoric of our politicking. Various commanders sit down with Afghan elders and explain that “we’ll pay for [the damage we’ve created],” […]
Making a movie about survival is tricky insomuch as, generally speaking, the writer, director, and cast have little frame of reference from which to draw the logical course of action for dealing with a pack of hungry wolves in the Alaskan wilderness. Perhaps our repeat viewings of Man vs. Wild suggest a rudimentary knowledge for survival, but […]
Man on a Ledge might be the most literal-titled, cliche-riddled movie anyone will see this year, but amid the sea of tropes and trash, there are clever moments, which makes it difficult to cheer for Nick Cassidy’s demise, but not impossible. During his visit to the Roosevelt Hotel, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) checks in under a pseudonym, […]