I’ll readily concede that this is a minority opinion, but I don’t think David Fincher was really a filmmaker who merited serious attention until 2007’s Zodiac. He was a formidable stylist and his impact and influence were mutually significant. The … Continue reading Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that
Let Me In is based on the novel Let the Right One In (or Låt den rätte komma in, if you prefer), but it’s probably more accurate to say it’s based on the Swedish film adaptation written by the book’s original author, John Ajvide Lindqvist, and directed by Tomas Alfredson. It’s a debt that’s openly acknowledged, including a special citation in the the credits. It’s also unavoidable. The original film version has a spirited cult following and earned critical praise well beyond that usually afforded to entertainments centered on supernatural creatures spilling a lot of blood. Writer-director Matt Reeves had … Continue reading There’s a peacefulness and a rage inside us all
It takes no time at all for Restrepo to establish itself as a completely different breed of war documentary. The film follows an American platoon that’s been dispatched to Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, an area so fraught with danger that it’s … Continue reading Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended, tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
The thing about out-of-the-ordinary family structures is that they’re typically not odd to the people existing within them. Certainly being outside the norm of society’s rigid (but loosening) definition of what makes a family can cause some dismay and feelings … Continue reading Control yourself, take only what you need from it
There’s no shortage of material out there designed to pry into the personal lives of famous figures. There’s even a whole battalion of individuals who are famous for no other reason than their willingness, even needy enthusiasm, to have cameras … Continue reading I’ve been licked, washed up for years and I merely survive because of my pride
The word “inception” actually means the beginning of something, that start of a journey, the first part of a major undertaking. In Christopher Nolan’s new film, Inception, the word has an additional definition in its role as a bit of … Continue reading I had too much to dream last night
The more fantastical a movie is, the more likely it will be heaped with praise for the vivid realization of its setting. Whether it’s Peter Jackson’s J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations, the Wachowski brothers’ plunge through payphone lines to reach the Matrix, … Continue reading To them ghosts in the train yard, all them ghosts in my drink
Roger Ebert recently asserted that “Pixar is the first studio that is a movie star.” While it’s possible to quibble with that “first” designation–MGM in its glory years comes to mind as a contender for that honor–the celebrity of the … Continue reading It’s that little souvenir of a colourful year which makes me smile inside
I admire Nicole Holofcener’s consistency. I don’t mean that every one of her efforts is uniformly strong, nor does she tread the same ground the same time out. Instead, Holofcener operates with a certainty of vision, a commitment to using … Continue reading Now’s the time that we need to share so find yourself, we’re on our way back home
On the basis of Niels Arden Oplev’s film adaptation of it, I don’t think I’d enjoy reading Stieg Larsson’s freakishly successful novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I don’t mean that as a condemnation of the film. On the … Continue reading I’m fit to be dyed, am I fit to have you?
Coffee for Two 