He needs no introduction, but rather a streetcar for his classy, self-centered, delusional, broke-to-the teeth heroine Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) to get her to the doorsteps of her sister… ”Stella!” Actually Ginger (Sally Hawkins). Embodying the stunning elegance and characteristics of Tennessee Williams’ extravagant Blanche DuBois, Woody Allen’s Jasmine, instead rolls out of a cab with […]
First Published: July 12, 2013 There’s something about spectacle. The book version of World War Z was all about the literary spectacle, taking the normally claustrophobic zombie story and blowing it up, writ large across the worldwide campus. I’ve always described it as Contagion with zombies – a world wide, political thriller that just happened […]
In the race to make a movie about polarizing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, I fear that everyone may have lost. Unlike last year’s not-so-epic Battle of the Snow Whites, I don’t know if there ever was going to be room for two Jobs movies. Whoever made it first was going to be the person who […]
A lot of coverage of the acclaimed Sundance film Fruitvale Station has centered on the Trayvon Martin connection. It makes sense. The tragedy that the film depicts shares DNA with the tragedy that captured America’s attention: young black man killed while unarmed, for seemingly very little reason. Hell, the two stories even share a “marijuana bag” […]
The trailer for Only God Forgives is absolutely remarkable. Stylized cinematography with a glowing rufous aura of revenge is cloaked in tension-rising techno that shadows the slow-reactions of actor Ryan Gosling. With a firm R-rating, the two-minute trailer introduces a samurai-sword-carrying-killer-cop and a mother asking her youngest son to avenge the murder of his older […]
I’ve spent a lot of time this summer in a movie theater. Scratch that. I spend a lot of time EVERY summer in a movie theater. So trust when I say that Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro’s robots versus sea monster opus, is the quintessential summer movie. It starts with the overwrought narration, provided by […]
She is clumsy, impulsive, irrational, indecisive, and forgetful. She is a 27, “looks older, but not grown up.” She is open and friendly with men, but she labels herself as: “undateable.” She has the right posture and body, but her lack of coordination makes her appear as a caricature of a dancer. She is educated […]
He did it again! After receiving recognition for his early work Shotgun Stories (2007) and Take Shelter (2011)- both featuring Michael Shannon- the Arkansas native writer/director Jeff Nichols delights admirers and critics at home and overseas with another crafty feature Mud. The coming-of-age indie premiered at Cannes in 2012 where it received a Palme d’Or […]