7 years ago
Shailene Woodley 10
Striking Similarities: “Sully” and “Snowden” Share a Political Ethos
In their respective films, Oliver Stone and Clint Eastwood examine the concept of duty as going beyond title.
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“The Divergent Series: Insurgent”
The Divergent Series: Insurgent is so unmemorable that its long-winded, SEO-boosting title becomes a helpful marker for keeping track of what it is you’re watching. The film begins with more “previously on” summary than a late episode of Lost, but even the con...
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The Emptiness of Days to Come: On Gender Stereotypes and Sex in “White Bird in a Blizzard”
When it comes to exploring themes on sexuality in film, few contemporary auteurs have been more radical, and more divisive, than Gregg Araki. A pivotal figure in the New Queer Cinema movement during the early 1990s, and highly considered to be the "bad boy" of...
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“White Bird in a Blizzard”
A good mystery is never about the reveal. The reveal is a backdrop, or a catalyst for characters to be jerked out of complacency and into orbit. Circumstances of chaos and desperation deliver them from one point to another, always the same shore, regardless of...
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Weekend Box Office: “Jump Street” Beats “Dragon”
It's common for a summer weekend to bring more than one sequel, but less common for both sequels to be well-reviewed and make decent money at the box office, and that's just what happened this weekend. The big winner was the second outing for Jonah Hill and Ch...
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Weekend Box Office: “Stars” Rise, Star Falls
On a weekend where both the Stanley Cup and the NBA Finals happened to fall, it was probably inevitable that a movie not aimed at the typical teen boy audience was going to do well. Of course, it also helps to have a movie adapted from a hugely popular YA book...
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“The Fault In Our Stars” Earns The Tears You’ll Inevitably Shed
As tempting as it is to roll eyes at the subject matter of teenage love fettered by terminal illness, Josh Boone’s The Fault In Our Stars -a refreshingly sober melodrama, respectful of such a weighty topic it dissects- requires one to check that attitude at th...
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Weekend Box Office: Teen Lit, Muppets and Jesus
The weekend saw the release of the latest young-adult literature juggernaut to be filmed for its presumably large teen fanbase, and considering how many of those types of films have come out in recent years, it says something that this one did well, Yes, Diver...
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“Divergent”: Derivative Dystopia
Not all Young Adult (YA) adaptations are made the same. Don’t tell that to Hollywood executives, of course. Over the last decade, practically every YA novel with a supernatural or science fiction bent has been scooped up for adaptation, regardless of the under...
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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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