The Andean story of how the world was created by a tall white, blue eyed man with long blond-reddish hair and beard who arose from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia has been passed down by word of mouth through generations of South American Indians. Known to the Aymaras as Viracocha (he was also called Kon-Tiki), Quetzalcoatl…
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards knew each other as children, but the more appealing version of their later meeting on the Dartford Railway opens Not Fade Away. Mick has a stack of vinyl R&B LPs on his lap which Keith takes an active interest in and so began the Rolling Stones. This vignette also launches…
Highly influential, passionately inspired, and awfully long-winded, Quentin Tarantino has amassed a filmography that is soaked in self-indulgence. He’s made some great movies regardless, but I find myself now exhausted by his work, even if at times I’m thrilled and engaged. The experience of watching a Tarantino movie tends to be a scattered one, pieces…
Pat (Bradley Cooper) does not handle stress in a manner acceptable to society. When he unexpectedly comes home from work and discovers his wife in the shower with a co-worker, he beats the guy almost to death. His plea agreement with the courts sends him to a mental institution where they determine him to have…
Director Andrew Dominik’s third feature film after “Chopper” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” 2012’s Killing Them Softly is a brutal tale of mob politics based on George V. Higgins’ 1974 novel “Cogan’s Trade.” On top of being a gritty gangster picture, the film provides a thoughtful commentary on America’s…
The second trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is here and it is better than the previous trailer released by Columbia Pictures in June. The reason for that is because Leonardo DiCaprio has extended screen time and his role as plantation owner Calvin Candie is great. Same can be said about Samuel L. Jackson in…
Once thought to be a sort of incendiary indictment of Scientology, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master turns out to have much more on its mind and is far less easily described. Often dipping into non-narrative space and at times seemingly impenetrable, Anderson’s sixth feature is focused on the post-war journey of drifter, loner, and spiritually…
