In choppy, frizzed, black and white video, Sally, a boisterous leader with a southern drawl asks, “Are you still an effective team?” Agreeably, the woman on the other end of the line, Victoria, responds with a nod and Sally labors forward with technical orders. But I too, can respond to this inquiry in agreement. Director…
A deft touch turns into a heavy hand in Derek Cianfrance’s big, bruised follow-up to his quietly brilliant masterwork “Blue Valentine.” His latest is a conflicted drama about fathers and sons and fate and bad decisions and maybe even ice cream. The Place Beyond the Pines is an admirably ambitious project that clobbers its themes…
A character in the fifth installment of the “Scary Movie” franchise utters the line, “Wow, there are so many pans.” He doesn’t know the half of it, since almost every critic worth his or her salt has seemingly panned this film with wild abandon. Plotless, pointless and with little redeeming value, Scary Movie 5 will…
Making a film based upon an iconic figure, such as Lincoln or Gandhi, forces one to walk a thin line between legend and humanization. How do we show the warts (no pun intended in Honest Abe’s case) and foibles and yet still uphold the impeccable character of the subject. Such was the task of writer/director…
Jurassic Park 3D is probably one of the most hyped about films this season, and it’s easy to see why. Audiences have been raving that the film is just as thrilling as it was twenty years ago, that it absolutely begged to be converted into 3D, and that it’s an eternal testament to Steven Spielberg’s…
If you thought conspiracies about the grassy knoll were captivating, then you would love to hear what movie enthusiasts have to say about the perceived meanings behind Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” in the mesmerizing new documentary, Room 237. From archived clips of vignettes from Kubrick’s impressive filmography, to detailed analysis and careful camerawork, this IFC…
Despite many critics profusely praising Evil Dead on some well-known websites, do not believe any of it. This remake removes any aspect of its 1981 predecessor’s gleefully stupid and frightening exuberance and instead substitutes any real scares for stomach-churning over-the-top violence making this a dull blood-soaked gorefest that bears absolutely no resemblance to the famed…
