“The Male Daze: ‘Jennifer’s Body’ At 10”

The story of how a movie released 10 years ago gave a bunch of dudes with keyboards a free opportunity to tell on themselves. Also, it’s a real swell movie. Continue reading →

“Inglourious Basterds Turns 10”

10 years after release, the source of “Inglourious Basterds'” enduring relevance isn’t Nazis; it’s Quentin Tarantino’s abiding love of the movies. Continue reading →

Review: In the Loop, 2009, dir. Armando Iannucci

If one word describes In the Loop, Armando Iannucci’s 2009 political satire, it’s almost certainly “scathing”. If two, that and “unforgiving”. Going further would only yield an entire novella of words meant to convey intense discontent or outright anger, and indeed the only declarative statement I can make about the film in the positive is … Continue reading →

Review: Valhalla Rising, 2009, dir. Nicolas Winding Refn

It’s amazing what a second viewing of a film can do to alter one’s perception and reaction to it. A while back, in my review of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s excellent Bronson, I mentioned my admiration for Valhalla Rising— his 2009 follow-up– in the body of the review itself as well as in discussions … Continue reading →

Review: A Town Called Panic, 2009, dir. Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar

In a word, Stéphane Aubier’s and Vincent Patar’s A Town Called Panic can be described as “madcap”. The film– essentially an extended big-screen episode of the French duo’s children’s television program of the same name– has a giddy, uncontrollable energy and a bottomless supply of imagination that defies anything resembling standard narrative conventions in favor … Continue reading →

Review: Fish Tank, 2009, dir. Andrea Arnold

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 →

Review: The Lovely Bones, 2009, dir. Peter Jackson

If we’re left with but a single takeaway for Peter Jackson’s 2010 effort, The Lovely Bones, it’s that even a visionary director of Peter Jackson’s caliber has opportunity to soil their sheets with the lights on.  Make no mistake, The Lovely Bones— based on Alice Sebold’s novel of the same name– is nothing short of … Continue reading →

Review: A Single Man, 2009, dir. Tom Ford

Watching 2009’s A Single Man out of sequence with 2010’s hit The King’s Speech puts Colin Firth’s performances in both in a different light and certainly removes the possibility of prejudicial viewings of the latter. I can say with absolute confidence that Firth could have won his Oscar for either of them, and that I … Continue reading →

Review: The Ugly Truth, 2009, dir. Robert Luketic

I’m putting this out there right now: I’m actually not reviewing this movie, despite what the title says. Frankly, reviewing it would be far too easy, and while writing negative criticism is tons of fun there are times when it can be somewhat of a slog, almost a routine or a chore of some sort … 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 →

Review: An Education, 2009, dir. Lone Scherfig

A critical darling of 2009, Lone Scherfig’s An Education approaches its subject matter– the blossoming relationship shared by Carey Mulligan’s not-yet-of-age schoolgirl and Peter Sarsgaard’s cultured and much older gentleman– with such a deft hand as to negate any potential for casting a lecherous taint upon the story. By any account, this should be treated … Continue reading →

Review: Inglourious Basterds, 2009, dir. Quentin Tarantino

When have you ever watched a movie by Quentin Tarantino and felt like he showed restraint? My relationship with everyone’s favorite cinematic culture junkie could be described as tenuous at best; Tarantino never shies away from letting his influences show in his pictures, and often his film fetishism feels tiresome and even disruptive to his … Continue reading →

Review: Ink, 2009, dir. Jamin Winans

When we fall asleep, we unknowingly receive visits from spirits who control the nature of our dreams. With a single touch, Storytellers provide us with an entire night sleep’s worth of pleasant fantasies where chocolate cake is the ultimate weight loss tool and jamming Hendrix-style in front of a cheering crowd comes naturally. Alternately, falling … 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 →

Review: Avatar, 2009, dir. James Cameron

More than a month after the film’s release, what else is there truly left to say about James Cameron’s game-changing, 3D, high-tech, science fiction extravaganza, Avatar? It is everything that other reviewers say it is, gorgeous, lush, fluid, inventive, vibrant, and yet vacuous, unoriginal, bloated, stilted, and pulseless. It’s the clash between cool technology and … Continue reading →

Review: Moon, 2009, dir. Duncan Jones

2009’s Moon is a remarkable achievement in hard, idea-based science fiction, and as an entry in a veteran filmmaker’s body of work, it could easily be a high point. So when we take into account the fact that it is a debut picture, its quality becomes emphasized even further. (If a first-time director can make … Continue reading →