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After a string of recent misfires such as the two-part Che biopic, The Girlfriend Experience, and The Informant!, America’s own auteur Steven Soderbergh has bounced back considerably over the past year; delivering the chilling ensemble drama Contagion, the low-key action-thriller Haywire, and now the raunchy, funny male stripper movie Magic Mike. A non-judgemental movie about selling sex … Continue reading
As an unwarranted sequel to a poorly received remake of a tepid ’80s fantasy flick that rates as a B-grade cult gem at best, there’s very little to justify Wrath of the Titans‘ existence. One can only assume that somebody wanted a do-over of what could have been a potentially good franchise starter. The only … Continue reading
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in ’21 Jump Street’ As a feature film retread of a vapid ’80s cop show re-imagined as an R-rated slapstick action-comedy starring that one kid from Superbad and that dude from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the comedy 21 Jump Street should logically suck. It somehow works, and works well. Directors … Continue reading
Quite likely the first caper comedy to pit a tone-deaf policeman against a gang of anarchist musicians, Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson’s Sound of Noise is a light, crisp bit of cinema imported from Sweden. Expanding the duo’s 2001 short film “Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers”, the story lightly spoofs police procedurals as it … Continue reading
Matthias Schoenaerts in ‘Bullhead’. An ambitious debut by director Michael R. Roskam, the Belgian crime drama Bullhead is sometimes clumsy, often brutal, and always gripping. It was nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was in the unenviable position of competing against the superb A Separation. The movie begins as a standard mob movie … Continue reading
A compelling story about an unraveling marriage, the complexities of contemporary Iran, and the damage wrought by divorce, writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation is a stunning film that is equally intimate, moving, and free of affectation. It’s wrapped in a gritty realness that is disarming and engrossing. That it’s been nominated for an Academy Award for Best … Continue reading
At last, a romantic comedy for those of us who hate romantic comedies, as well as movie that finally takes a more upbeat approach to the apocalypse. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World doesn’t build towards a forced fairy tale conclusion, rather it sticks to its disillusioned guns and delivers something more true. Then it … Continue reading
One of the great social revolutionaries of the 20th Century, Bill Wilson changed the world in a way few people have, via a social movement that now spans 150 countries and 2 million members. Bill W., the exceptionally comprehensive character study of the Alcoholics Anonymous founder by first-time filmmakers Kevin Hanlon and Dan Carracino provide … Continue reading
As its title implies, writer-director-actor Tanner Beard’s The Legend of Hell’s Gate: An American Conspiracy is an ambitious, sprawling, and muddled take on the allegedly true story associated with the Possum Kingdom Lake cliff formation. There’s a good western romp in there somewhere, but viewers have to sift through a lot of superfluous detail to … Continue reading
It’s a startling moment when Jeff Who Lives at Home opens with actor Jason Segel dictating to a tape recorder the meaning of M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs — not so much because it’s a tight close-up, but because we’re not used to seeing such sad desperation and confusion on the face of the perpetually and endearingly goofy Segel. It … Continue reading
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