Category Archives: Reviews

Source Code a genuine sci-fi thriller

Posted on April 1, 2011 by | 1 comment

Nicolas Cage picks projects that can be hit or miss (Bringing Out the Dead vs Bangkok Dangerous); Jake Gyllenhaal seems to follow a similar pattern of doing the safe film, then the artistic one ( Prince of Persia vs Donnie Darko).  Thankfully Source Code, Gyllenhaal’s latest, is a taut sci-fi thriller worth seeing. Continue reading →

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DVD Tuesday: Made in Dagenham

Posted on March 29, 2011 by | 1 comment

In 2008, Sally Hawkins proved herself to be a strong actress with her daring performance in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky. She has appeared in various small, but important, roles since then–none of which have allowed her the space to achieve a similar performance. While she doesn’t quite reach the standard set three years ago, her newest starring role is really something to behold. Made in Dagenham is something of a return to form for Hawkins, and a reassuring promise that great things are yet to come. Continue reading →

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Rango an animated comedy western – for adults

Posted on March 27, 2011 by | 1 comment

As I entered screen number 13 for Rango, I noticed the plethora of chattering children.  And when the trailers flashed one animated film after another, vying for the audience’s adoration with cheap laughs and the presentation of cute characters of varying formations (bunnies, birds, and bears), people chuckled and “Awww-ed” right where the marketing teams wanted.  Then Rango started up and this 24-year-old man laughed his way through the picture while children sat in silence and parents thought, “What the f*ck did I bring my offspring to?” Continue reading →

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Sucker Punch: The U.S. re-makes Pan’s Labyrinth

Posted on March 25, 2011 by | 3 comments

Tarantino is regularly accused of producing films that are as artistically nutritious as a family size bag of potato chips.  I’ve written before about why I violently disagree with such assessments, because that crown belongs firmly upon the head of director Zack Snyder, whose latest film is a PG-13 fetish fantasy flick. Continue reading →

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DVD Tuesday: How Do You Know

Posted on March 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment

When most romantic comedies are written according to a basic formula, when dialogue is scarcely authentic and believable, we have come to rely on James L. Brooks to deliver affecting and very real stories of romance. From Terms of Endearment to As Good As It Gets, he has never quite allowed his films to fit to some sort of standard. And while the same can be said of his newest film, How Do You Know (specifically, that you’re in love), his characters slip into caricature due to some disconnect between creator and creation. It has its moments of poignance and brilliance, it even has scenes that all romantic comedies should aspire to have, and yet somehow the characters never seem quite as real as they should. James L. Brooks, it seems, is slipping. Continue reading →

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DVD Tuesday: Fernando di Leo Crime Collection

Posted on March 15, 2011 by | Leave a comment

The history of cinema is deeply entrenched in the history of crime. Gangster films, heist films, film noir, and other sub genres have always offered movie-goers an abundance of style, and occasionally profundity of theme. This week sees the release of a collection of crime films from Fernando di Leo on DVD for the first time in the US. They are not the deepest of movies, they offer little moral or thematic context, but they have proved to be hugely influential. And together, they form one hell of a ride. Continue reading →

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Hard-on for the Marines keeps “Battle: L.A.” from taking off

Posted on March 13, 2011 by | 1 comment

In the last 1/3 of Battle: L.A. protagonist Michael Nantz finally confesses to one of his men the details of the inner strife that has been percolating.  It’s supposed to be an emotionally charged moment, but it’s abruptly deflated when Nantz proclaims, “But none of that matters right now.”  And much to its detriment, that’s precisely how the film treats anything without bullets and fireballs. Continue reading →

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Terrorist epic “Carlos” worth the time

Posted on March 9, 2011 by | 2 comments

For almost a decade now, we have been treated to the best and most artistic television that has ever been produced. Earlier this year, I wrote about the great Red Riding Trilogy and, if anything, Carlos is even better. Following the meteoric rise and tragic fall of the most dangerous man in the international community, we see more than just an interesting historical figure. We see a man beset on all sides by self-doubt, self-loathing, anxiety and fear, a man easy to condemn and hard to sympathize with. But we see a man in his entirety, and we come to at least understand him, even if it is hard to forgive him. Continue reading →

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DVD Tuesday: Inside Job

Posted on March 8, 2011 by | Leave a comment

When the envelope was opened last Sunday, one of my favorite films from last year, Exit Through the Gift Shop, lost to a documentary I had yet to see. Anticipating some of Banksy’s potential antics, I blamed the result on the Academy voting against the elusive artist instead of voting for any given film. Now that Inside Job has come out on DVD, I see that they were completely right. Exit Through the Gift Shop remains one of my favorite films of the year, but if ever a documentary deserved that Oscar, it’s this one: a film so relevant, so timely, and so perfectly executed that it has earned all of its recognition. Continue reading →

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White collar workers feel the pain in “The Company Men”

Posted on March 5, 2011 by | Leave a comment

A cadre of white collar workers making at least $160,000 a year lose their jobs to corporate downsizing to inflate the company’s stock price.  As the wealth disparity continues to divide the U.S. into binary classes (super rich or flat poor), a film that expects audiences to empathize with such characters should sink faster than a lead zeppelin.  Yet the film is able to dodge this pitfall to yield a decent drama. Continue reading →

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