7 years ago
The Wolf of Wall Street 10
Now Playing: “War Dogs”
Vikram Murthi takes aim at the new war-torn satire "War Dogs," from director Todd Phillips.
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Financial Meltdown: Portraying Wall Street Onscreen
Christina Newland on the recent trend of Wall Street-centric movies that valorize its characters.
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“Z for Zachariah” Finds Virtue In Scaling Back
On paper, Z For Zachariah resembles a much larger operation than it turned out to be. Right off the bat, it’s an adaptation of post-apocalyptic lit, an apparently boundless well into which Hollywood has plunged its bucket quite frequently over the past few yea...
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“The Riot Club”
Lone Scherfig’s new film name-drops its own title so many times that it very nearly verges on self-parody. If a tenacious viewer felt so inclined, they could make a super-cut of every time anybody on screen coyly huffs and puffs about the eponymous ultra-exclu...
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Video Essay: Kevin B. Lee’s The Best Films of the Decade So Far
The people have spoken! Remember those half decade lists I was talking about and how the remarkable Kevin B. Lee started all this kerfuffle? Well, the esteemed video essayist has completed his daunting task in polling 290 film critics and cinephiles and the re...
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Video Essay: Lessons from “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Do you have thirty minutes to spare? This isn't just like any thirty minutes, and, no, this is not Jordan Belfort trying to sell you on something. From the moral motivations and the moral depravities of Mr. Belfort to the specific techniques Martin Scorsese us...
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10 Memorable Closing Shots
There is a particular art to a final shot. Every shot in a film is important -- it’s one that didn’t end up on the cutting room floor, so it is inherently significant, though perhaps not extraordinary. Any one of these shots can be truly dazzling in any number...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: “The Wind Rises”
"The wind is rising! ... We must try to live!"
~Paul Valéry
The Wind Rises may be classified as a "biopic," but it is less a document of a man than it is of a dream: beginning with its birth, progressing through its lifespan, and then finally waving a tearfu...
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Why It’s So Hard to Blame Gun Violence on the Movies
Earlier this week, Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday responded to the crimes of Elliot Rodger by writing a thoughtful op-ed about the pervasive influence of the systemic misogyny in Hollywood. She called out one film by name - Neighbors – which caused s...
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Seven Deadly Sins of Cinema
Kevin Spacey's immortal turn as the sin-obsessed John Doe took Seven and launched it into the stratosphere of crime classic. The way he dispatched with sinners so heartlessly and with conviction lead me to ponder what others movie characters would have drawn h...
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