This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the entries for each of their twenty four categories in anticipation of this year’s 84th Academy Awards show. As is always the case, response among critics and film writers has been mixed, characterized by raised eyebrows, occasional high praise and pleasant surprise, and most … Continue reading
Today marks the release of survival-action film/Liam Neeson vehicle The Grey, the latest film from director Joe Carnahan (Narc, The-A Team). I unequivocally loved it; it’s an immensely effective pulse-pounding thriller on the surface, but it’s characterized much more strongly by its more metaphysical and emotional traits, something that took me off-guard in the best … Continue reading
The biggest crime committed by Jason Winer’s remake of Arthur, the 1981 Dudley Moore classic, is failing to justify its own existence. Winer clearly either isn’t particularly fond of that staple Moore picture, or he didn’t find inspiration in it; Arthur just goes through the motions, following beat after beat and sequencing from one moment to … Continue reading
Like it’s lead, Point Blank has no time to waste. With a mere eighty four minute running time, it’s not hard to understand why. With time being such a precious commodity, hapless everyman Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) hurries at every turn, and Fred Cavayé’s film follows suit. Point Blank distinguishes itself with boundless energy, an economy … Continue reading
If you’re a fan of musical scores for films in general, or an admirer of legendary composer James Newton Howard specifically, then I’ve got a couple of articles that are right up your alley. Marc Ciafardini, founder and editor of GoSeeTalk, has published a two-part series covering Howard’s very first public performance with the Dallas Symphony … Continue reading
Haywire, in its fashion, possesses many of the best qualities of its protagonist; like Mallory Kane, it’s lean, mean, efficient, and wholly focused on attaining its goals and realizing its purpose. It also teeters, occasionally, on the verge of emotional vulnerability. Neither Kane (MMA fighter Gina Carano) nor director Steven Soderbergh are especially willing to … Continue reading
While I doubt most of us can claim to come from the same circumstances as Mia, the rough-around-the-edges protagonist of Andrea Arnold’s 2009 coming-of-age film Fish Tank, I’m sure most of us can at least empathize on a spiritual or philosophical level with her eventual need to reach for something better in her life. That … Continue reading
Categorizing Ti West’s The Innkeepers accurately seems tricky at a glance; is it a horror film with comedy elements, or the other way around? Invariably, the film falls under the horror umbrella without much debate but its blend of scares, charm and laughter makes it a genre standout among more recent haunted house fare. Dread … Continue reading
Kill List‘s very nature makes it an incredibly difficult film to review properly. In point of fact, it’s the sort of film in which any foreknowledge of its events beyond the barest of essentials nickel and dimes you, robbing you piece by piece of its overall impact. Trailers and posters only hint at its secrets, … Continue reading
Not too long ago I wrote a piece about Quentin Tarantino and my personal stances on him, both as a filmmaker and as a personality in cinema, and his body of work. Specifically, I discussed at length the dichotomy I experience being both highly critical of his work while simultaneously admiring his undeniable talent behind … Continue reading
Lightly populated, quiet, creepy woods in the South– littered with fallen trees just waiting for someone to impale themselves on them– naturally read as lairs for ravening hillbillies just waiting to crush, burn, melt, torture, suffocate, slice, dice, eat, or otherwise violently send unsuspecting young people (and other incidental victims) to an early passing. In … Continue reading
Weekend can easily be described as unabashedly, unashamedly, graphically sexual when it wants to be– or needs to be. For many, this may be a point of contention. Those who are uncomfortable with or disdainful of homosexuality, for example, will quite likely turn away from the film before it even starts; the loss, frankly, is their … Continue reading
Still not ready to close the books on 2011? Head on over to GoSeeTalk and check out the year-end pieces produced by the writing staff over there– Marc, Bill, Grady, and of course me! My contribution varies little from what I published here at ACVF, but you might be pleasantly surprised at some of the others’ … Continue reading
It’s difficult to say whether Juliette Binoche or Abbas Kiarostami is the star of the latter’s newest film, Certified Copy. Much comes to rest on Binoche’s delicate shoulders– the nameless character she plays is the only principal character in the film apart from co-star William Shimell– but Kiarostami’s direction, assured yet humble, constitutes bravura filmmaking … Continue reading
In my book, 2011 has been a great year for movies. Good stuff has abounded throughout this particular revolution of the planet, both on the side of light lifting– Limitless, Paul, Cedar Rapids, Captain America— and in the realms of more substantial material, such as Drive, Weekend, The Tree of Life, and Win Win. Even … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 