Category: Film

FilmLeave a comment

Besson, Clooney, Gilroy, Jarmusch, Jones

Dan Seeger

Lucy (Luc Besson, 2014). Though based on a half-baked idea from the rambunctious mind of its director rather than anything that originally appeared on a printed page, Lucy can make a claim on being one of the best comic book movies of the past year, in that it establishes and locks in on its own suspicious and imaginative logic and then lets all other rules fall away in favor of what’s most thrillingly entertaining in any given moment. Scarlett Johansson plays the title character, a young woman whose scruffy boyfriend gets her ensnarled in a situation in which she’s an … Continue reading Besson, Clooney, Gilroy, Jarmusch, Jones

FilmLeave a comment

By and by, Lord, by and by

Dan Seeger

Bringing the wartime experience of Louis Zamperini to the screen has been on the Universal Pictures wish list for so long that they once dangled the part to Tony Curtis. There’s nothing like a blockbuster book to suddenly propel a film project into being. Delivering the same sort of clear storytelling and reportorial depth that distinguished her earlier Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand tracked through Zamperini’s youth, athletic feats, military achievements, astounding endurance both lost in sea and as a prisoner of war in Japanese internment camps, and finally struggles with pronounced post-traumatic stress disorder after returning home. There is a staggering amount of … Continue reading By and by, Lord, by and by

FilmLeave a comment

From the Archive: Beowulf

Dan Seeger

This is another review raided from my former online home. If nothing else, it’s a snapshot of a time when considering the relative value of a 3D viewing was still required when evaluating a film that has that option. By now, except in the rare occasions when it’s an enormous part of the intended experience, the technology is rarely brought up in reviews. I’ll also note that, following my habit of using song lyrics as the headlines to film reviews, this piece was original presented under the banner “The rain was there to wash away my tears, I wanted to … Continue reading From the Archive: Beowulf

FilmLeave a comment

Chaplin, Chazelle, Kosinski, Lubitsch, Pressburger and Powell

Dan Seeger

The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, 1940). The audaciousness of Chaplin making a comedy that mocks Adolf Hitler — predicated at least somewhat on the two men’s shared taste in mustache grooming choices — is undercut, though only slightly, by the fact that he eventually regretted it, openly stating that he wouldn’t have created The Great Dictator had he been aware of the full extent of the Nazis’ crimes against humanity. Delivered as World War II was still in the ramping up process, the film is a brilliantly scathing satire, not just of Hitler’s brutal ambitions but of war itself and … Continue reading Chaplin, Chazelle, Kosinski, Lubitsch, Pressburger and Powell