Now that we have reflected on 2012 at the movies, it is time to look ahead. There is plenty to be excited about in 2013, whether you like comic-book blockbusters (Iron Man 3, Man of Steel), real-life drama (Captain Phillips, the Paul Greengrass/Tom Hanks drama about a Navy Captain abducted by Somali pirates), or moustaches…
The late Gene Siskel once described the job of being a film critic as “covering the national dream beat.” What he meant is that the movies document our collective unconscious. We may go to the movies to escape, but because the movies trade on our fantasies and not our conscious fears and desires, they often…
Yesterday in The Independent, Robert Zak wrote about the movie studios’ decision to cancel red-carpet premieres of two upcoming violent movies – Django Unchained and Jack Reacher – in the wake of the shooting in Newtown. Here are his words: [S]uch actions are more than just harmless or pointless gestures that answer to prim ideas…
In 1988’s Bull Durham, Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) famously said that “fastballs are boring, and besides that, they’re fascist.” Well, that’s how I feel about Top Ten Movies of 2012 lists. It is that time of year in when critics of every stripe release their own personal Best Of lists. Not me. It is presumptive…
Well, it had to happen. Time relentlessly marches on, and now it is officially awards season again. The critics’ boards are making their choices, Top 10 lists are filling my Twitter feed, and we even have our first front-runner controversy. Of course, all of the awards are just appetizers for the Oscars (which will air…
I am still trying to wrap my mind around this interview of Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow by The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins. Here is an excerpt: The film includes wrenching scenes of a terrorist suspect being waterboarded and subjected to other forms of torture by C.I.A. operatives; the suspect eventually surrenders information that…
This morning, The Atlantic published an article I wrote as part of their online content. It is an analysis of the hypocrisies of the new film, Hyde Park on Hudson, in which I examine the ways the film claims to value the privacy of our elected leaders – while simultaneously exploiting that privacy to make…
There is an old rule in Hollywood: the dog has to live. You can kill hundreds of people in a movie and splatter the screen with human blood, and the audience won’t mind. But get one cute little pooch caught in the crossfire, and it will leave a bad taste in the viewer’s mouth (the…
Reel Change 
You must be logged in to post a comment.