Deciding to watch The Next Three Days took longer than actually watching the film. Paul Haggis might be one of the most polemic directors today in terms of story and content. He doesn’t necessarily cause controversy – unless it’s among critics – but, sort of like Clint Eastwood, he turns out films that are either rather solid […]
Some might suggest that a movie like The Usual Suspects is overrated and garners undue praise because its narrative is predicated on a lie, namely one that Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) weaves for the duration of the film. Perhaps the critics of this style are correct inasmuch as the final scene really amounts to a stylized “just […]
Despite its title, The Boxer might be the antithetical pugilist-movie. There is a boxer, Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis), and he does box, a little. At the same time, Flynn’s boxing is less a profession, and more a metaphor for the waning but never dying conflict between Irish Catholics and Protestants. And, it feels as if this […]
As 2009 comes to a close, it’s time for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to award the producers who have sent out the most gift baskets in the last year with a tiny gold statue. And to improve on the mediocrity of nominations from 2008, this year the Academy has decided to sift through […]