Review: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 2007, dir. Tim Burton

I’m a big fan of the abrupt and melodramatic style of the musical, and an even bigger fan of the dread and grue associated with horror movies. I also (surprise!) happen to really, really like movies. It therefore stands to reason that a movie version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street would … Continue reading →

The Art of the Spoil: My Experiment for 2010

You know you want to go into a movie blind. You really do. But at the same time, it’s almost impossible to succeed in said endeavor. Don’t believe me? Try it yourself and you’ll see. Sure, you can avoid spending too much time on movie websites, and you can always change the channel. You can … Continue reading →

Review: Twilight Samurai, 2002, dir. Yoji Yamada

Hiroyuki Sanada may well be the best actor whose name you’ve never heard, but whose face you swear you’ve seen before. Like countless other Americans I suffer from a crippling addiction to television juggernaut Lost, a show that went from character driven, high-concept science fiction recalling Jules Verne to a nebulous and frustrating series of … Continue reading →

Review: Funny People, 2009, dir. Judd Apatow

To say that Funny People represents Judd Apatow’s first career stumble would be a lie. He’s been writing and producing since the mid-90’s, and stuffed in between the rousing success of his directorial debut and follow-up, The 40-Year-Old-Virgin and Knocked Up, respectively, as well as his numerous producing and writing credits (Forgetting Sarah Marshal and Pineapple … Continue reading →

Review: Sherlock Holmes, 2009, dir. Guy Ritchie

Guy Ritchie, the proud creator of notoriously stylized gangster films like Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, is not a director well known for his relationship with the concept of “restraint”. So the fact that my fingers are about to type the sentence, “Ritchie shows uncharacteristic restraint in his latest film,” comes as … Continue reading →