Imagine if “Rear Window” were in motion, the fragmented but persistent yearning to see given (literal) added dynamism. What we glimpse through windows is always partial, but if viewed from a moving train the glimpse is even more fleeting. Then replace James Stewart in a wheelchair with Emily Blunt addled by alcohol and you have…
Dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy turns a once warm and ebullient family man into a solemn, withdrawn, and angry loner in Kenneth Lonergan’s (“Margaret”) bittersweet drama Manchester by the Sea, one of the best films of 2016. Set in the picturesque city of Manchester on Massachusetts’ north shore, cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes (“Martha…
The film has the personality of a Playstation best-seller, scenes like the strip club shootout and rooftop royal rumbles seem like clips straight from Grand Theft Auto 5 or Far Cry.
The last thing Major John Cafferty (Tahmoh Penikett, “Man of Steel”) remembers is running with his Special Forces squad through a cave tunnel in Afghanistan trying to escape . . . something. When he wakes up in a hospital bed, however, he can’t remember how he got there, or what happened in Afghanistan. The orderlies…
Memory minds. It minds who you are, but, more particularly, who you were. It minds who you love, but, quite peculiarly, who you hate. For Zev and Max, it all has been a long ride till retaliation. For if it is true that no vengeance is possible without memory, no grievances exist when they cannot…
A poignant love story, Arnaud Desplechin’s (“Jimmy P.”) My Golden Days (Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse) is filled with warmth and humor and delivered with a lively and playful touch in the Desplechin style: The use of voice-overs, split screens, the iris-effect, and characters looking and speaking directly into the camera. Challenging us with numerous…
Suppose the ultimate version of Nostradamus was thrown onto the silver screen. Now suppose that his specialty was not simply predicting the future, but also holding and carrying the knowledge of all mankind. This is the basic premise to Phillip Noyce’s film, The Giver and Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”) plays this mix of political adviser,…
