A swift cold caress. A metallic blade skims your scalp. The tender handling of hair. The disadvantage of sitting with your back to someone with a lethal tool. You’re at the mercy of a wild array of possibilities that go from the helpful to the obscure. The introduction to The Stylist is a beautiful presentation…
Within a few minutes of watching The Father, you may get the sense that this is a dialogue-intense film that seems to bear a resemblance to a stage play. This perception is enhanced by the closed space in which the action occurs — a suitable, lived-in apartment of an educated man with décor that includes…
There’s no denying that being a teenager is a struggle. From the ever fluctuating emotions to the miscommunications between friends, its an uphill battle. And in the case of media depictions, it can be hard for current adolescents to find something to genuinely relate to. Sure, there’s once-revolutionary representation within 80’s films, along with the…
In case you’re wondering, the big moral or theme of Jay Baruchel’s Random Acts of Violence is that we should be careful when creating works that depict over-the-top violence, lest some unstable fan decides to give literal life to your most gruesome imagined scenes. At least that’s what I got out of this middling, piddling,…
“The real voyage of discovery lies in not seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes” — Marcel Proust Taking risks and taking responsibility can be two sides of the same coin but never seem to mesh in Thomas Vinterberg’s (“Far from the Madding Crowd”) comedy-drama Another Round, Denmark’s submission for Best Foreign Film at…
Whenever I find myself looking at the treasured imagery of the American Frontier, there’s always a bittersweetness that washes over. Perhaps it is the grandeur of the mountains looming against the most idyllic of cottages, but there’s this sense of melancholy that’s fascinating to explore. One such example comes in the form of Mona Fastvold’s…
The romantic comedy is my favorite genre, and because I have watched so many, I have developed quite a discerning eye for what’s good or bad in the rom-com world. So where does director V.W. Scheich’s Stars Fell on Alabama fall? Well, it’s not an absolute train wreck, but it’s not exactly good either. James…
