There’s a lot of questions being asked in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, but don’t expect any answers. At least not in this first outrageous trailer. What you will get, however, is plenty of `70s inspired jargon to go along with a missing persons investigation. Based on a novel written by Thomas Pynchon, it has…
You can say this about Life After Beth, the indie zombie romantic comedy (zom-rom-com?) by first time director, Jeff Baena: Aubrey Plaza (2012’s “Safety Not Guaranteed”) makes for a great zombie. With her deadpan delivery and soulless eyes, she doesn’t have to do much to look and act like the dead reawakened. Don’t get me…
The 1920’s were the culmination of the greatest wave of immigration in American history in which more than 25 million people arrived, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, to escape the aftermath of the Great War and its resulting poverty and oppression, or simply to embrace the promise of the “American Dream.” Many of these…
Everyone’s invited to Disney’s PG pity-party Maleficent. Directed in the cadence of a Lana Del Rey song (who, coincidentally, shows up during the credits with a closing track), this live-action re-imagining of the 1959 animated classic “Sleeping Beauty” has enough gothic romance, leather gowns, and teen gloominess to attract a substantial summer audience. Surprisingly, however,…
Mystics, saints, and sages throughout the ages have said that life is forever and that love is forever but I don’t think they had vampires in mind. Though around for ages, vampires seem to have become more popular in our society today, perhaps reflecting the corporate consumerism sucking the life out of our society. Though…
What’s a classic love story without some stars crossing overhead? What’s a romantic comedy without family members getting in the way and embarrassing both themselves and the lovers in question? What can a potential bride do when her father insists on more tradition than she’s comfortable with? How can a penniless suitor earn that father’s…
For what is supposedly his final film, anime master Hayao Miyazaki ambitiously departs from his usual genre territory and yet still honors his innermost passions while once again expressing wonder through the imaginative eyes of its protagonist. The Wind Rises stands out in Miyazaki’s filmography because not only is it anchored in reality when nearly…
