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
I don’t have a signed document to this effect or anything, but I do believe I have previously pledged to follow director Steven Soderbergh anywhere. That has brought me some undue misery over the years, but I’ve largely stuck by … Continue reading I feel the magic like I never felt before, I imagine that it’s always been there
Longer ago than I care to admit (it can be measured in decades, sadly), I first started reviewing movies on a weekly radio program, originally adopting the strategy of treating each new film as strictly its own entity. Theoretically, a sizable percentage of our listening audience would be coming to these films fairly fresh, with no working knowledge of the director’s wider oeuvre, the history of the production or any of the other odd particulars that can fill the heads of seasoned moviegoers as the lights go dim in the theater. I figured I should do the best I could … Continue reading Now he’s up above my head, hanging by a little thread
Coffee for Two 