Characteristically, Jeff Bridges captivates the audience with his portrayal of Bad Blake, a hard-drinking, serial marrying, downward-spiraling country singer who has gone from headliner to saloon-crooner. The film’s redemption theme is not unique—it’s really kind of a rehashing of 2008’s The Wrestler — so Crazy Heart offers nothing new to the category of “man must save his […]
Orphan I’m a bit disappointed about how much I enjoyed this film — I hated the reboot of House of Wax and categorize most recent horror/suspense/thriller-type movies as bits of films that have been recycled and placed over snippets of Dvorak opera. However, the acting in Orphan is quite solid as Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgarrd hold their own. […]
The vampire mythology fascinates me. Zombies get a bad rap because their pallid skin is usually bruised and covered in sores; they lack coordination and an adequate vocabulary beyond the oft-repeated “braaaiiins,” meander wildly from side to side and often have entrails hanging from their incisors. They can’t really be blamed for this affliction — everyone goes […]
Thus far, Jason Reitman is three for three and has managed to make the dramedy relevant again. In Thank You For Smoking and Juno, Reitman tackles the tobacco industry and teenage pregnancy without beating the audience over the head with the righteous stick or presenting epiphanies that change the characters from concrete villains to saccharine heroes. His […]
As the first decade of this millennium passes, there’s a focus on the “best of” well, everything. Can’t say I’m above this: in a previous post, I ranked the last ten Best Picture winners, and I’m currently working on an article that ranks the days of the week (screw Thursday). Why Thursday you ask? Well, because […]
Possibly the most beautiful movie I have ever seen, Avatar is visually stunning and a revolution of filmmaking. The 3-D technology that director James Cameron employs is flawless, but the greatest feat that Cameron has pulled off is eradicating the line between humans and their animated counterparts. In recent years, Pixar has released some of the […]
As 2009 comes to a close, it’s time for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to award the producers who have sent out the most gift baskets in the last year with a tiny gold statue. And to improve on the mediocrity of nominations from 2008, this year the Academy has decided to sift through […]
In general, the quality of something is a result of the company that surrounds it. For example: you are presented the opportunity to choose between a BMW, a Ford Focus, and a Saturn Ion. Clearly, the BMW takes the prize. In contrast, if you are presented with a Saturn, a Yugo, and a Datsun, the Saturn would finish on […]
The other night, I sat in a bar and — judging by the next-day hangover — drank a pitcher or two of methanol dyed brown. Anteblindness, an interesting conversation brewed over the best sequels of all time. You’d figure given the tendency of terrible sequels to spawn from a box-office hit that was probably such because of […]
Rain is a waterfall against the windows of the double doors, and Annie Lennox’s version of “Don’t Let it Bring Your Down” streams softly from surround-sound speakers as iridescent street globes cast soft light through the windows on a blonde body lying on a pillowy sofa while two masculine hands remove her black pants and begin to […]