8 years ago
All posts by Andy Crump
The Second Criterion: “Close-Up”
In Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up, art imitates life. Or perhaps the other way around. Frankly, it's kind of hard to tell, though the film very handily proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the hoary old adage that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. For many, Kia...
Read more →
“Evergreen: The Road to Legalization” Barely Scratches The Surface of Marijuana Legalization
Surprise, surprise: a documentary that chronicles political maneuverings to legalize marijuana in Washington state plays it mellow. For 80 minutes, Riley Morton's new film, Evergreen: The Road to Legalization, tries admirably to avoid taking the rah-rah road a...
Read more →
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” Gives A Franchise Wings
You may find yourself in a state of stunned, blinking confusion as How to Train Your Dragon 2 begins its end-credits scrawl. Sequels aren't supposed to be this good; they are, according to conventional wisdom, supposed to be soulless cash-ins, all the better f...
Read more →
“The Grand Seduction” Takes Pride In The Lie
Brendan Gleeson is nothing if not multifaceted. He can swing an axe with manly ennui (Braveheart); he can play the grizzled, unhinged war vet-turned-teacher you always wish you'd had in high school (the Harry Potter franchise); and he can explode truck-sized a...
Read more →
Chuck Workman Talks “What Is Cinema?” & Film’s Future
If you've ever watched an Academy Awards show, then you're already familiar with the talents of Chuck Workman. You just might not know it. He's the man behind many of the montages featured during the annual celebration of all things Hollywood (and some things ...
Read more →
“Night Moves”: No Succor In The Wilderness
If you've ever watched a Jesse Eisenberg performance, you've most likely formed an image of him in your mind as the loquacious aggro-nerd: the man fills the air with a rapid-fire staccato of verbiage that flips between hostile (The Social Network) and neurotic...
Read more →
“The Sacrament” Exploits Tragedy For Thrills And Meaning
Ti West is nothing if not obsessed by the past. In point of fact, the guy has built most of his career on dipping into the well of 60s-80s horror, drawing on notable niches of both eras to provide blueprints for movies ranging from House of the Devil to The In...
Read more →
The Second Criterion: “Three Outlaw Samurai”
When we think about narratives woven around samurai, those noble, ornately armored dragoons from Japan's feudal days of yore, we tend to think of them in terms of thematic frameworks. Honor, loyalty, devotion, and servitude; these are just a few of the primary...
Read more →
“Godzilla” Destroys Effing Everything
2014 is the year Toho's favorite son, Godzilla, turns 60. It's also the year that the vaunted American studio system tries its hand again at appropriating the iconic granddaddy of all kaiju for entertainment purposes, Roland Emmerich be damned. Why Godzilla? W...
Read more →
IFFBoston Interview: Leah Meyerhoff & Natalia Dyer, “I Believe In Unicorns”
Leah Meyerhoff is no stranger to winning accolades on the festival circuit. Her short film, Twitch, screened in an absolutely towering number of festivals (from Cannes, to Milan, to Newport), and garnered over a dozen awards as it made the international rounds...
Read more →
