8 years ago
The Canon (10 posts found)
Modern essentials
‘Short Term 12’ is Cinema At Its Most Compassionate, Vulnerable, and Human
Republished and altered from our LA Film Festival Coverage
There have been many films about at-risk teens receiving guidance from a surrogate parental figure, from Stand and Deliver to Freedom Writers to The Blind Side, which tend to feel false due to water...
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Paul Schrader’s ‘The Canyons’ Examines and Reveals the Artificiality of our Culture
Cinema is not quite dead, but according to Paul Schrader’s newest film, movie theaters certainly are. The battered and boarded-up theaters that highlight The Canyons' opening frames signify that the medium has moved on, in both form and function. As the traile...
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‘Blue Jasmine’ Is Woody Allen’s Most Intricately Constructed Film In 20 Years
Woody Allen has carved a long career out of psychoanalyzing characters’ neuroses, illnesses, and mental obstacles. More often than not, it’s been a potent mixture of affecting drama and self-aggrandizing humor in keeping with Allen’s own sense of himself, and ...
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‘The Spectacular Now’: A Charming, Tender, and Deeply Resonant Coming-of-Age Tale
This review has been republished from our coverage of LAFF.
It's becoming more and more apparent that coming-of-age films have been reaching something of a renaissance period lately, with each consecutive year offering up at least one genuinely great entry...
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‘Museum Hours’: The Most Intimate of Spaces
Vienna through Jem Cohen's eyes is a patchwork quilt woven from ordinary urban landscapes that somewhere during the film turns into a work of art. Every proportion, field of depth, asymmetry or contrast suddenly gain multidimensional meaning. But it's not the ...
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‘Drug War’ – Johnnie To Plays Gangster Chess
A lot of critics have tossed around the term "genre exercise" (or something similar) in regards to Drug War. It's accurate, but I feel like that phrase is too reductive, and not just when applied to this film, but in general. Think about what it suggests. "Oh,...
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‘The Act of Killing’: A Maddening and Unforgettable Documentary
The Act of Killing is one of the best documentaries of the year, and I don't ever want to see it again.
Watching this film is both ideologically riveting and morally repulsive. From very early on, I wanted to walk out of the theater, but I couldn't. It'...
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Guillermo Del Toro’s Rousing ‘Pacific Rim’ Is a Joyous Homage to Pacific Inspirations
Any Filipino who grew up as a kid in the early 80s will tell you about their love for giant robots. As a country that was once invaded by Japan, it can seem strange that Philippine culture would wholeheartedly embrace an invasion of mammoth-sized mechas during...
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LAFF Review: ‘My Sister’s Quinceañera’
Independent cinema has exploded thanks to the proliferation of technology, but truly independent film remains on the periphery. Film festivals are often chock-full of "independent" movies that are headlined by known actors, made by established industry profess...
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‘Man of Steel’
Superman might just be the hardest character in pop culture to define. While all versions share some characteristics, everyone’s own personal vision of him is a little different. To some, he’s the big blue Boy Scout who would save a kitten from a tree, crack a...
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