Someday when the sins of our modern age are tallied up, the culture will provide ample evidence that the worst infractions committed in our name weren’t done so in secrecy. Given what it depicts, Camp X-Ray should play like an … Continue reading She could only do so much in these crazy days
As I started gathering some digital resources to provide supporting research in writing about the new film Gone Girl, I was briefly taken aback when reminded that Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name came out just two years ago, … Continue reading Beautiful girl, lovely dress, where she is now I can only guess
The Skeleton Twins begins with the siblings of the title a continent apart, but both at the same dismal low point. It turns out that Milo (Bill Hader) is a step ahead of his sister, Maggie (Kristen Wiig). As she’s … Continue reading Poor skeleton steps out, dressed up in bad blood
Understandably, there’s been a lot of attention on filmmaker Richard Linklater and the long path to his new film, Boyhood. Stories have covered the logistics of filming a story in small bursts over the course of twelve years or focused … Continue reading Toward a wisdom beyond the shelf, toward a dream that dreams itself
Guardians of the Galaxy is the first film that’s convinced me Marvel Studios might be able to make a go of this moviemaking thing longterm. That might seem ridiculous given the fact that the offshoot of Marvel Comics has had an enviable box office run ever since they decided to take their characters in the own hands, beginning with Iron Man, released in 2008. Though the projects are costly, their lowest worldwide gross with a film was still over $250 million, and the bulk of them have handily crossed the half-billion mark. Artistically, though, they’ve floundered just enough to cast … Continue reading You said, it’s time to get your clothes on, you said, it’s time to leave the planet
In a cinematic irony that its subject would surely appreciate, the documentary Life Itself is dominated by the specter of death. Sure, the film does its duty in tracing the life of film critic Roger Ebert, who is arguably the … Continue reading The hills ringing hear the words in time, listen to the holler
When we arrived for a screening of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, my partner in all things requested two tickets to “Angry Monkeys.” It took the ticket seller a beat or two to catch on, but once he … Continue reading I reached the top and had to stop and that’s what bothering me
Snowpiercer, the new film from director Bong Joon-ho, is ravishingly bonkers. Based on a French comic book saga, the film presents a future vision of the world plunged into permanent, uninhabitable winter, a result of overcompensation in the battle against … Continue reading Everyone’s happy, they’re finally all the same, ’cause everyone’s jumping everyone else’s train
At some point, the meta magic of filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller is going to wear so thin it can’t hold up a flimsy excuse for a movie concept, but the inevitable erosion hasn’t happened yet. Mere months after their astonishing and daring subversion of the corporate synergy movie model turned The Lego Movie into the most unlikely critical hit in ages (the film’s commercial success, while more impressive than expected, wasn’t exactly in doubt) they’ve returned with a sequel to 2012’s television show adaptation 21 Jump Street, itself a headlong dive into the rabbit hole of mocking self-awareness. … Continue reading Well can’t you see me standing here, I’ve got my back against the record machine
The X-Men #141, published with a cover date of January, 1981, contained a story entitled “Days of Future Past.” There was nothing on the front cover, iconic as it became, that indicated there was a momentous tale to be found … Continue reading The hourglass is draining fast, it knows no future, holds no past
Coffee for Two 