This all seems awfully familiar: it’s December, and a big-scale fantasy epic based on one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s essential landmark novels has been adapted to the screen by the man who directed Dead Alive. Forget that we’re trekking back to Middle Earth, the arrival of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is itself a return to a status … Continue reading »
Were I to describe Silver Linings Playbook in a single word, it would be “insistent”. We should consider the source, though; after all, David O. Russell is nothing if not blunt in his cinema and mercurial as a man. So when Silver Linings Playbook grips you by your lapels and stares you in the eyes … Continue reading »
Last week I slacked off and broke my normal cross-posting habit: I published three reviews over at Go, See, Talk! and neglected to link to each of them over here. Well, better late than never as the adage goes, so permit me to catch you all up on what you might have missed today, starting … Continue reading »
If anything, Pusher is a perfect example of what a remake both should and should not be; it’s well-made and engaging, but it also brings nothing new to a story we’ve already seen before. Continue reading »
The Wachowski siblings are back four years after their last directorial effort, this time with Tom Tykwer in tow, and their adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is a magnificent opus of optimism and hope. Continue reading »
Ben Affleck’s third feature film tells a story so utterly bonkers that it could only come out of a Hollywood studio. Except that the CIA devised the entire plot and actually put it into action over three decades ago. What’s even weirder– it worked. Continue reading »
Today, I finally get around to publishing a belated link-post for everything Looper-related that I’ve disseminated across the Internet– from my full review, in which I award the film a perfect score, to the essay I published just yesterday. Continue reading »
Alternate title: How I Met Elizabeth Olsen and Made Her Fall in Love With Me. Continue reading »
The writer of Training Day takes his umpteenth stab at telling a story of heroism, crime, and male emotion filtered through the lens of South Central law enforcement and gang culture. Is David Ayer just a one-trick pony, or is he a driven perfectionist? Continue reading »
Bill Graham and I tackle The Words together via the long-unused Double Take format. Bill is a bit kinder to it; I’m more or less merciless, as Brian Klugman’s carnival of nepotism is one of my least favorite releases of the year. But you’ll have to read the full article to get our full perspectives. Continue reading »
