In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, 2012 may be remembered as the year that we decided to take environmental concerns more seriously. If that is the case, the movies of this year have reflected this change in consciousness. Films as diverse as The Lorax, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and the upcoming Matt Damon vehicle Promised…
The line between art and entertainment is often blurry, especially when it comes to film. There are other times, however, when the contrast becomes perfectly clear, and if you ever sit down to watch The Comedy, you will know exactly what I am talking about. Tim Heidecker plays Swanson, a 35-year-old Brooklyn hipster who has…
Skyfall opens, as do all James Bond films, with an action sequence. Bond chases a villain through a Turkish marketplace, then onto a train, then onto the top of that train, and although the sequence is gripping and masterfully put together, it feels a bit tired. Two films after having our expectations of Bond reshuffled…
The president has just been re-elected to a second term, and he intends to use his political capital to pass a bill addressing the most important issue of the day. The bill has already passed the Senate but is opposed by a majority in the House. This former lawyer from Illinois turned beloved president is…
Last week, John Cusack announced that he will play conservative talk show icon Rush Limbaugh in a new biopic to be directed by Betty Thomas (Private Parts, 28 Days). The project is being described as an exploration of “the rise and reinvention of American Talk Radio, and Limbaugh’s continued influence and impact over the last…
Critics were busy last weekend heaping praise upon big-time director Robert Zemeckis for Flight, which they deemed the kind of sophisticated adult drama Hollywood does not make much of anymore. But that film, with its sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll opening and its after-school special of an ending, is more like something a teenager thinks an adult film is…
Flight has been pitched to the general public as the kind of adult drama that doesn’t get made much anymore, and the first scene of the film confirms that assertion. It opens with a close-up of a naked woman. We zoom out to see a hotel room in a state of post-coital disarray – empty…
Five weeks and two repeat viewings later, I am still having new thoughts about The Master. Upon its initial release, many critics had trouble grasping its meaning. Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post called it “confounding.” Roger Ebert at least put it eloquently: “When I reach for it, my hand closes on air.” Many other…
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