Review: The Town, 2010, dir. Ben Affleck

The Town serves as a direct competition between Ben Affleck, actor, and Ben Affleck, director, in a bid to determine which of the two stands out as the dominant personality. Anyone who saw 2007’s Gone Baby Gone already can guess that the latter incarnation of the Cambridge-born Affleck emerges victorious, and if anything, The Town … Continue reading →

The Home Stretch: Fall and Winter 2010’s Films to Watch

2010 dwindles down to its final hour with the passing of each day. It’s been a pretty mixed year, filled with movies worth watching but not necessarily worth getting excited about; only a handful here and there, for my taste, have really been exceptional and stood out amongst the crowd of good-but-unmemorable releases. But what … Continue reading →

Review: Kung Fu Hustle, 2004, dir. Stephen Chow

Vanity, they name is Stephen Chow. Perhaps nothing more true and at the same time more false can be said about the dashing, roguish Chinese director in regards to 2004’s Kung Fu Hustle, a film where Chow both runs the show and stars as the out-of-sight protagonist. The contradiction between placing greater emphasis on the … Continue reading →

Review: Get Low, 2010, dir. Aaron Schneider

There’s a moment early on in Aaron Schneider’s Get Low in which our hero, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), promotes his living funeral through live radio broadcast to local townsfolk and all those residing in the adjoining counties. Asked by the operator how he’s doing, Bush responds in his uniquely short and gruff manner, “I am”; … Continue reading →

Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, 2009, dir. Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog possesses an understandable, if somewhat inaccurate, reputation as a director of compelling documentaries that focus on stories that are told outside of the eye of the mainstream and often even the fringe. 2005’s Grizzly Man covered the bizarre, troubled life and grim end of Timothy Treadwell, an activist with a wildlife obsession that … Continue reading →

Late Night Double Feature: Jennifer’s Body/Drag Me to Hell

But don’t worry– I’m not in the back row at the picture show, because you know what they say about the back ro Two horror films, two degrees of director skill. Two beautiful leading ladies, both tormented or prodded by demons. Sounds like a natural pairing for a late-night back-to-back horror bash. Let’s get this … Continue reading →

Masks, Memories, Dreamscapes: Nolan’s Delusional Heroes (pt. 1)

Christopher Nolan is a man obsessed with heroes who choose fantasy over reality. This proclivity didn’t only begin when he took on the task of rehabilitating the ailing Batman franchise by wrapping it with thick layers of realism, though it’s easily the most obvious place to start in this particular analysis: Nolan’s characters, beginning with … Continue reading →