8 years ago
The Canon (10 posts found)
Modern essentials
This ‘Stranger By The Lake’ Is Masculine, Murderous and Mesmerizing
This French erotic thriller is subtly compelling.
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‘The Wolf of Wall Street’: Sex, Lies, and Lemons
Martin Scorsese’s pictures wade through the darkness of the human soul, but rarely has his viewpoint been as bleak – as hopeless, really – as it is in The Wolf of Wall Street. The man, one of the American cinema’s living national treasures, has built a cinemat...
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‘American Hustle’ Pulls The Wool Over Our Eyes to Great Delight
Director David O. Russell has crafted another instant classic.
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‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ is One of the Coens’ Best Shaggy Dog Stories
Warning: contains spoilers
In Inside Llewyn Davis, the titular protagonist (Oscar Isaac) is yet another one of Coens’ unlucky characters, bewildered by the cruel twists of fate. But what separates Davis—loosely based on folk musician Dave Van Ronk—from the ...
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‘Narco Cultura’ Is A Powerful Lamentation For An Epidemic of Violence
A powerful look at how a musical subgenre is glorifying and exploiting the epidemic of drug violence in Mexico.
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Alexander Payne Takes A More Observational Approach in ‘Nebraska’
Alexander Payne’s last three movies have been about despondent men trying – and failing, mostly – to connect emotionally with the people around them. His latest, Nebraska, is about two such men learning that they should try to connect to each other. It’s the f...
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Another Take: ‘The Counselor’ Is Still Worth Watching
Sitting at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes The Counselor has taken a lot of flak from critics for being too talky and overly dark, but the film is certainly not indecipherable, it just asks its audience to go places, places that audiences may not be willing to delve in...
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‘Captain Phillips’ Is A Masterful Achievement From Greengrass and Hanks
Russell Hainline reviews Paul Grassgrass' CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, starring Tom Hanks.
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Villeneuve’s ‘Prisoners’ Packs Powerful Performances
Denis Villeneuve (Incendies) has a great gift for building tension without resorting to pathos. It deserves true recognition, especially considering the immensely delicate and emotional subject matter his new film, Prisoners, touches upon. Most filmmakers woul...
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‘The Invader’ Is A Beautiful, Provocative Look at Race, Sex, Class
The Invader is a mini-masterpiece, a hypnotic exploration of identity, sex and class politics set against the backdrop of urban anomie.
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