Just try to do your very best, stand up and be counted with all the rest

In the immediate aftermath of watching Selma, I was one of those many people who marveled at what a leap forward it was for director Ava DuVernay, considering the perceived degree of difficulty in shifting from small, intimate dramas to a period picture on a wide scale depicting a signal moment in recent American history. Then I revisited my own review for DuVernay’s prior film, Middle of Nowhere, and I realized the resounding inaccuracy of that perception. Yes, the scale of Selma is very different, most evident in the scenes recreating the various attempts at mounting a protest march the fifty … Continue reading Just try to do your very best, stand up and be counted with all the rest

By and by, Lord, by and by

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

Arms getting heavy, exhaustion’s setting in, waves getting bigger, life’s getting thin

The gimmick built into the construction of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has every likelihood of sinking it. The not wholly novel story of a desperate actor (Michael Keaton) mounting a troubled stage production in hopes of reviving … Continue reading Arms getting heavy, exhaustion’s setting in, waves getting bigger, life’s getting thin