9 years ago
Reviews (10 posts found)
“The Right Kind of Wrong” and “Love and Demons”: A One-Two Punch of Anachronistic Relationship Propaganda
In Woody Allen’s seminal 1977 comedic romance Annie Hall, Alvy Singer, in an attempt to make sense of why his seemingly impervious relationship failed, approaches a couple on the street and asks how they account for their shared happiness.
The woman answers...
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“Le Week-End” Is A Darkly Funny, Candid Look at Love and Marriage
The baby boomers were perhaps the first generation in history where being cool was a legitimate cultural goal. Coolness, youth, and counterculture were all the rage when Nick (Jim Broadbent) met and married Meg (Lindsay Duncan). The British couple, now in thei...
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“Veronica Mars”: TV’s Cult Favorite Returns on the Big Screen with Pleasant Results
Though a significant portion of its fanbase came late to the party (including this writer), Veronica Mars launched out of the gate 10 years ago this September with one of the few unimpeachable seasons of modern network TV. Its combination of post-Buffy genre a...
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“Enemy”: Organized Chaos
There's a very good chance that Denis Villeneuve is just fucking with all of us.
His newest film Enemy opens with the cryptic quote "Chaos is order yet undeciphered," from the José Saramago novel which its based on, The Double, and then gives us an erotic y...
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“U Want Me 2 Kill Him?”: Blurred (On)Line
I almost quit Twitter once. Despite my long love affair with the social network, I was nearly driven to delete everything, to terminate all social networks I used. But, because I am weak and have no will power, I did not. What drove me to almost act on this de...
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“Need For Speed” Burns Out Too Quickly
Early on in Need for Speed, a drive-in theater can be seen playing a clip from the foundational car-chase movie Bullitt, but the natural point of comparison for the film is, of course, the Fast and the Furious series. From a structural standpoint, this video-g...
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“In Fear”: Death by Road Trip
Having endured countless hours of senseless gore that revels on escalating sadism to inflict not fear but disgust on its audience, these days less tends to be more when it comes to watching horror flicks. And when it comes to barebones terrifying experiences, ...
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“The Face of Love” Will Give You Vertigo
In the first act of suspense-driven melodrama The Face of Love, protagonist Nikki (Annette Bening) converses with her daughter, Summer (Jess Weixler), expressing her concerns over the younger woman's relationship; like any good mother, Nikki doesn't want her c...
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Wes Anderson’s Latest Diorama “The Grand Budapest Hotel” Isn’t His Tidiest
Wes Anderson is cinema’s inner child incarnate. His perfectly crafted interior universes - labyrinthine submarines, exotic trains, prestigious private schools - are populated by imperfect sad souls, live-action Charlie Browns who are forever mourning or resent...
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“Bethlehem” Betrays Its Own Intelligence
Bethlehem feels like it would make an excellent show on HBO, and I mean that as a high compliment. The themes and ideas director Yuval Adler and co-writer Ali Wakad are playing with are all fascinating, relevant and thought-provoking on their own, but together...
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