The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966). An altogether remarkable feat of cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s film documents several years of the Algerian War, when rebels fought against colonialist rule by the French. Pontecorvo opts for verisimilitude, staging sequences with the … Continue reading Then Playing — The Battle of Algiers; Recorder: The Marion Stokes Story; Sleepwalking Land
As the new version of Dumbo soar into theaters, it seems a long lifetime since a new directorial effort from Tim Burton was cause for excitement. When I was crafting reviews for my college radio station in the early nineteen-nineties, … Continue reading From the Archive — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
I thought about dusting this review off a couple months back, during a weekend when a certain feature starring Tom Hardy became an unlikely smash hit. But then I realized the word “Venom” doesn’t appear anywhere in the few hundred … Continue reading From the Archive — Spider-Man 3
It’s easy to forget now, but shortly before the release of No Country for Old Men, it appeared that Joel and Ethan Coen might have reached the end of their run as vital filmmakers. They’d delivered two critical and commercial … Continue reading From the Archive — No Country for Old Men
As Ryan Gosling blasts into theaters as Neil Armstrong, I’ll take advantage of this space to look back to when he was still venturing on occasion into a different kind of character role. I think this might still represent his … Continue reading From the Archive — Lars and the Real Girl
I’m always pleased when I discover something in one of these old reviews that carbon dates it to the era in which is was written. I think the reference to Blockbuster in the lengthy opening paragraph accomplishes that feat nicely. … Continue reading From the Archive — The Savages
Sometimes I wish I’d had a silly online outlet for tapping out my impressions of visual entertainment back in the days when my household regularly hosted small, snarky crowds for double features of cinematic misfortune. Sadly, I have no old … Continue reading From the Archive — Primeval and Bats
For many, Paul Haggis will forever be the person who directed the most egregious Best Picture Oscar-winner of the past twenty-five years. He’s not. That honor belongs to Ron Howard. I’ll over no further defense of Crash at this time … Continue reading From the Archive — In the Valley of Elah
It appears director J.A. Bayona is on his way to a second straight week at the top of the box office. To a large degree, that’s attributable to being handed the keys to the right ongoing cinematic venture. I can’t … Continue reading From the Archive — The Orphanage
This italicized portion usually contains some modern pontificating on the earlier writing presented in this weekly feature. In this instance, though, I have no annotations. This review was written for my former online home. David Cronenberg’s last film was called … Continue reading From the Archive — Eastern Promises
Coffee for Two 