Perhaps none of what I’m about to write will remain true. My thinking in the last twelve hours has flipped a little bit; for a few hours after walking out of Tsotsi, the South African winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, I was prepared to say it more or less worked in spite […]
I keep coming back to the cinematography. Despite a cache of fine performances and one of the smartest American heist scripts in years, I can’t help but come back to the look of the thing, and how much fun it is – rare indeed is the film whose camera movement is enough to keep me […]
The greatest horror films of the 1970s, which is to say, some of the greatest horror films of all time, have an almost transcendent quality – they are among the most effective cinematic experiences imaginable. Think Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, think Carpenter’s Halloween, think Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not just brilliant horror, some […]
There are two kinds of French movies: nihilistic explorations of the meaning of art, interpersonal communication and sexual politics; and half-baked sentimental fables. This year, one of the five Best Foreign Film Oscar nominations went to Joyeux Noël, which is sadly one of the latter. Based on a true event, it tells the story of […]
It’s been a good long while since I’ve been the last one to see a film (especially one that’s been open for four days), and it’s kind of disheartening – what can I possibly add to the fray? Even though the answer is probably “nothing,” I’m absolutely not going to pass on the chance to […]
My first admission should be that I saw Night Watch about a week ago, and yes I know that if I were going to review it I should have done so already, dammit. But with one thing and another, I’ve been having a hard time focusing on it. The thing is, Night Watch sucks. Sucks […]
Spending the whole work day moving my office was conducive to nothing but fatigue, so I apologize in advance if this is a less than wholly enlightening review; the plus side is that if I’d had a moment to think of anything interesting today, I probably wouldn’t have reviewed the film at all. Right, the […]
