Then Playing — Singles; The Loveless; The Fly
Reviews of films directed by Cameron Crowe, Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery, and David Cronenberg Continue reading Then Playing — Singles; The Loveless; The Fly
Tag: david cronenberg
Then Playing — Fool for Love; Rabid; The Naked Gun
Reviews of films directed by Robert Altman, David Cronenberg, and Akiva Schaffer Continue reading Then Playing — Fool for Love; Rabid; The Naked Gun
Then Playing — Presence; Fast Company; Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Reviews of films directed by Steven Soderbergh, David Cronenberg, and Robert Altman Continue reading Then Playing — Presence; Fast Company; Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
From the Archive — A History of Violence
As the striking of the twentieth anniversary of the 1999 resounds, there’s been a revived interest in arguing that the bygone year in question might have represented the best twelve month span in the long history of cinema. That’s a … Continue reading From the Archive — A History of Violence
From the Archive — Eastern Promises
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
Like a drug that threatens to take my life, lust is a cancer, love is a vice
I can’t think of another director that successfully mixes the tactile and the intellectual more often than David Cronenberg. In his very best films–for me, that means Dead Ringers, eXistenZ and The History of Violence–there’s a remarkable thematic balance between … Continue reading Like a drug that threatens to take my life, lust is a cancer, love is a vice
Carpenter, Cronenberg, Ford, Truffaut, Wright
Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011). Well, I’ll say this for director Joe Wright: He’s not going to be pinned down. He made his feature debut with a Jane Austen adaptation and followed that with a prestige picture based on a Ian McEwan novel. Then came a fairly drab issues picture largely about the homeless community in Los Angeles. The bank shot away from that reunites him with Atonement Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan for a bizarre action film about a teenage girl who was raised in isolation to be an unstoppable assassin. The film is balanced awkwardly between stylish action and moody … Continue reading Carpenter, Cronenberg, Ford, Truffaut, Wright
Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Three
#33 — Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988) By the time he made Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg was already an established master of depicting the mushy, gristly fallibility of human flesh, and doing so with frightening ingenuity. He’d made heads explode … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Three
Acker, Cronenberg, Denis, Heckerling, Sturges
Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995). I’m prepared to concede that Heckerling’s gum-snap reworking of Jane Austen’s Emma is better than I would have said after seeing it upon its original release. It’s also, despite its reputation, not some glistening pop gem. It’s an agreeable bit of fluff with some charming moments, and a suitably bright performance from Alicia Silverstone, who’s more a beneficiary of shrewd casting than anything. Writer-director Amy Heckerling–here fresh from a couple dippy crowdpleasers about the inner monologues of babies, let’s not forget–is a sloppy, unfocused filmmaker. Just because her attention span may sync up with those of … Continue reading Acker, Cronenberg, Denis, Heckerling, Sturges
Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty
#30 — eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999) In November of the last year of the nineties, Entertainment Weekly published a cover story that proclaimed 1999 to be “The Year That Changed Movies.” It posited that the box office success of The Matrix … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty
Coffee for Two 