Well, it’s that time of year again. This morning, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards. In what seems to be a recurring trend, this year, the number of nominees is still more than five — but less than ten. I guess this logic allows them to nominate […]
It is difficult to recover from one’s death. It’s unnatural, for one. Death is supposed to be final—the full stop. And the promises it brings of transition imply a new—or at least unknown—opportunity. A person is not supposed to be left to wallow in their own decay while the world marches on without them. And living through […]
The third week in January appears to be all about kicking a little ass. I suppose Contraband started the trend last week as the lone exception to the horror movie flood of early January, but this week seems to be all about violence and redemption. Haywire: First of all, you’ve got to love the preview: classical music plays […]
So, in yet another film that has been “inspired by a true story” (OED definition: adj. vaguely related to something that happened to someone at some time, somewhere, while pondering something else), Universal Studios is releasing Big Miracle on February 7th. Starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, Big Miracle relays the tale of three whales trapped by […]
Like the John Le Carre on which Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is based we are introduced to the story media res as Control (John Hurt) advises “Trust no one Jim, especially not in the mainstream … They’re after my head Jim boy.” Unaware of Control’s intent – or even his name; at this point we only know […]
Don’t Go in the Woods: And, the streak of January horror movies continues this weekend as Gomer Pyle makes his feature-length directorial debut in this film about a band that head to the woods looking for new inspiration. Initially, this film strikes me as a departure from numerous wilderness-horror films, ones that treat the foresty refuge […]
Driven by Adepero Oduye’s emotionally powerful performance, Pariah tells the story of Alike (Oduye), a seventeen-year-old high school student trying to navigate her surroundings as a lesbian. However, this is less a film for lesbians as much as it is a film with lesbians in it. What I mean to suggest is that Alike’s struggles with […]
Warner Herzog’s newest documentary Into the Abyss is less about whether capital punishment should exist and more about why it does. Herzog’s opinion on lethal injection is no mystery. Within the first ten minutes of the film, he denounces the practice, but doesn’t stoop to demagoguery. Rather, Into the Abyss is a resonating documentary seems to focus […]
Despite the fifty-four-degree temperature outside, January has descended upon us, something most evidenced by the deluge of highly mediocre movies that are about to be released. Granted, Contraband could be fun and an uberintoxicating drinking game could be played each time Mark Wahlberg flares his nostrils, but, for the most part, movies released between January and March […]
From its opening shot of a pastoral landscape in England, War Horse is a beautifully depicted tale of competition, determination, regret, and class –but it’s mostly a story of a boy and his horse. Or, more appropriately, a fairy tale about a boy and his horse, something that the film does not try to hide with […]