9 years ago
Reviews (10 posts found)
The Criterion Collection: “The Merchant of Four Seasons”
Rainer Weiner Fassbinder almost never worked on just one project at a time. From 1969 to 1971, the well-known workaholic waltzed from directing more than 10 films to writing several stage plays. The production of The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971) proved to b...
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“The Ladies of the House”
Fans of late-night grindhouse fare will likely get a kick from The Ladies of the House, a by-turns sleazy and playful horror movie love-in that splits the difference between pseudo-feminist yuks and traditionally icky exploitation. The debut feature from the f...
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“Barely Lethal”
In her breakthrough performance as Mattie Ross in the Coen Brothers’ 2010 adaptation of True Grit, Hailee Steinfeld wowed audiences with a steely reserve far beyond her then-13 years of age. For maintaining her character’s composure in a frontier crawling with...
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“Results”
Note. This review originally ran as part of our Atlanta Film Festival coverage.
Computer Chess confirmed Andrew Bujalski as one of the sharpest writers and most inventive directors in the no-budget scene, but just as Joe Swanberg went more conventional with D...
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“Gueros”
Gueros is one of those debut features that’s three parts homage and two parts “look at what I can do” calling card. It’s the kind of movie critics rhapsodize over for paragraphs on end, until it almost makes you feel guilty about your own less passionate respo...
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“Tomorrowland”
Tomorrowland is built on an admirable message, and very little else. The new film from director and co-writer Brad Bird is often beautiful to look at, with a capable ensemble of actors, and is constantly throwing curveballs at its characters which buoys the ex...
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“Sunshine Superman”
Carl Boenish was a relentless lover of many enthusiasms, which included cinema, sky-diving and his partner in life/crime, Jean. There are thrill chasers, adrenaline junkies, and then there is Boenish. An engineer by education, cinematographer by trade, and an ...
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“When Marnie Was There”
When Marnie Was There may end up being the final work from Studio Ghibli. Hence, there’s a strong temptation for a critic to tie the movie’s themes and story with some sense of finality or closure. But as far as I know, no one making the film was aware of the ...
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“Shake the Dust”
We’ve come a long way from the b-boying, beatboxing, freestyle origins of hip hop in the South Bronx. Modern conceptions of hip hop favor 99 Problems over Fight(ing) the Power or Fuck(ing) tha Police. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with this evolution ...
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“I’ll See You in My Dreams”
It’s the same story at the top of every summer. Despite small but noticeable steps from Hollywood, summer screens from coast to coast still cater largely to the desires of the young male demographic, with superheroes, busy action vehicles (and maybe a couple o...
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