In Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis moves on from acting to alchemy. The two-time Oscar-winner is hardly prolific (he’s made only ten films since collecting that first Academy Award, for My Left Foot, a film now twenty-three years old), but … Continue reading Everything sticks until it goes away
Three films deep into Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond, and the reboot of the character that started with 2006’s Casino Royale is totally complete. In Skyfall there are hints of the character as he was previously conceived–in the brief … Continue reading Buy the sky and sell the sky and bleed the sky and tell the sky
It has been twelve long years since Robert Zemeckis directed a film that had real live actors in it. He would undoubtedly take umbrage with that characterization, noting that the stop-motion animation efforts he’s toiled on during those dozen years … Continue reading Turn this crazy bird around, I shouldn’t have got on this flight tonight
Sometimes a movie can be too clever for its own good. Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s sophomore directorial effort, Seven Psychopaths, settles snugly into this category. On one level, it’s a black comedy that builds its humor out of the bullet-blasting … Continue reading You’re talkin’ a lot, but you’re not sayin’ anything
When Ben Affleck made his directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone in 2007, there were a few qualities that merited special praise which have since grown into genuine strengths he has as a filmmaker. There’s a laudable focus, a pronounced … Continue reading In Hollywood where all the lights are low, and truth’s as rare as the winter snow
I greatly admire the construction of Rian Johnson’s screenplay for Looper. It’s not that he took on the daunting task of building a story around time travel and emerged with something that doesn’t collapse under unsolvable conundrums of logic, an … Continue reading Oh, you’re drivin’ me out of my mind
Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master has the look, feel and tone of a masterpiece. It has a distinct anti-narrative structure that allows even the moments that falter to feel organically right, refutations of the supposed need for everything in a … Continue reading I want your picture but not your words, you know they want it, but there’s no verse
For about two decades, David Koepp has been a screenwriter sought after for his apparent ability to polish blockbuster material into workable shape, a reputation that probably began in earnest after he assisted mightily in the process of adapting Michael … Continue reading I can’t go on so I give in, gotta get myself right outta here
I’m been stretching my memory for several days now, and I think I can accurately report that I’ve never seen a movie quite like Beasts of the Southern Wild. Movie fans who’ve had happier experiences than me when it comes … Continue reading When you’re golden, I’m your beast
It seems too strange to write about The Dark Knight Rises while sitting on this particular square of the calendar without at least acknowledging the most grimly notorious midnight show of all time. I saw Christopher Nolan’s concluding spin with … Continue reading Low rising, ’cause I fear we’ve had enough
Coffee for Two 