9 years ago
Reviews (10 posts found)
“22 Jump Street” Is Madcap Art And Product At The Same Time
We don’t know why Edgar Wright was dismissed from Marvel’s Ant-Man, despite all the clicks that newswire writers have churned out of it, but one generalized explanation seems undeniable: whatever Mr. Wright was interested in making wasn’t enough of a sellable ...
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“Elena” Experiments With The Documentary Form To Encouraging Effect
Director Petra Costa has taken the documentary as personal investigation in a new direction with Elena, which is heavily infused with the influence of her acknowledged idol, Chris Marker. Oneiric and kaleidoscopic, the film shuffles symbolic imagery into its p...
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“Citizen Koch” A Political Documentary That’s Not Angry Enough
“Money is a weapon,” says Buddy Roemer, a Republican candidate running in the 2012 presidential elections who was never invited to take part in the GOP debates throughout his candidacy. One main reason for Roemer, known for his opposition to the unrestricted f...
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“The Signal” Sacrifices Storytelling Logic For Striking Visuals
In the last few years, a number of filmmakers have, intentionally or not, used their first feature as a kind of calling card to bigger and (hopefully) better things. Josh Trank directed Chronicle, a film whose success allowed him to get hired as the director o...
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“Hellion” Is Merely As Generic As Its Title
One of the few consolations of a beloved television series going off the air is seeing where the members of its cast wind up next. For five white-knuckle seasons, AMC’s Breaking Bad was a prime showcase for Aaron Paul, who, over the course of the series, grew ...
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“Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr.” An Intimate, Bittersweet Portrait Of A Star’s Conflicted Father
Airing this month on HBO, Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. is an intimate documentary portrait of the father of one of the most famous actors of our time. Robert De Niro, Sr. was a well-regarded abstract expressionist painter in the 1940s and 50s wh...
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“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...
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“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...
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“Edge of Tomorrow” Is A CGI-Infused, Engaging Sci-Fi Black Comedy
Who would have thought that watching a woman painfully dying over 100 times in 2 hours could be entertaining? Or that 4D, the money-sucking, off-the-mark, ridiculously inadequate, and distractive technology there is, might prove it does have a little sense to ...
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“Obvious Child”: A Different Kind Of Pregnancy Comedy
Writer-director Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child is a very funny romantic comedy that centers on the issue of an abortion. Depending on where you stand, this is the kind of subversive entertainment we are finally allowed to have in 2014— or, conversely, thi...
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