With a name like Elegy, it’s unfair to expect anything but sadness. For a lot of people, sadness equates to gravitas, or grandeur. This is true to an extent. Films like Atonement, Million Dollar Baby, Gladiator, they manage to express feelings of sadness in a beautiful way. Other films want to beat you to death [...]
Entries from March 29th, 2009
Elegy
March 29th, 2009 8 Comments
Tags: Ben Kingsley · Dennis Hopper · Elegy · Isabel Coixet · Nicholas Meyer · Penelope Cruz · Peter Sarsgaard · Philip Roth
I Love You, Man
March 24th, 2009 5 Comments
It takes a bold set of filmmakers these days to release a big-budget comedy at the beginning of the summer when Judd Apatow’s name isn’t attached to the project at all. If you check his imdb page here, you’ll see that he is in some way responsible for most of the blockbuster comedies that have [...]
Tags: Andy Samberg · I Love You Man · J.K. Simmons · Jamie Presley · Jason Segel · John Hamburg · Jon Favreau · Larry Levin · Paul Rudd · Rashida Jones
An American Crime
March 21st, 2009 3 Comments
Remember that sinking feeling in the spring of 2005, when it was announced that Michael Bay would be directing Transformers? The world’s population of cinema buffs took one big collective sigh and gave up on the hopes of a worthy homage to one of the most beloved toys of the eighties. It’s a perfect example of how [...]
Tags: An American Crime · Bradley Whitford · Catherine Keener · Ellen Page · Irene Turner · James Franco · Tommy O'Haver
Wendy and Lucy
March 18th, 2009 2 Comments
In these tumultuous financial and political times, little indie gems like Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy strike a chord that everyone can relate to, in a very real, and very terrifying way. Its minimalism paves the way for some truly genuine and touching moments that are many times glossed over in bigger films. This sad [...]
Tags: Jonathan Raymond · Kelly Reichardt · Michelle Williams · Wendy and Lucy
Two Lovers
March 16th, 2009 7 Comments
I, for one, was not upset when Joaquin Phoenix announced his recent retirement from acting to focus on some sort of freestyle rap career. While being touted as one of the greatest actors of his generation by highly esteemed critics such as Rollingstone’s Peter Travers, he’s managed to display an extremely high level of [...]
Tags: Gwyneth Paltrow · Isabella Rossellini · James Gray · Joaquin Phoenix · Moni Moshonov · Two Lovers · Vinessa Shaw
[REC]
March 15th, 2009 4 Comments
When I reviewed the film Quarantine a few months ago, I had some not very nice things to say about it, or [REC] which it’s based on. I’m ashamed to admit, this is what I wrote:
I’m so tired of people bagging on this film because it’s a remake of[rec] since [rec] is a rip off [...]
Tags: Jaume Balagueró · Luis Berdejo · Manuela Valesco · Paco Plaza · [REC]
The Last House on the Left
March 14th, 2009 2 Comments
Dennis Iliadis’ The Last House on the Left had some mighty big shoes to fill. It must have been pretty intimidating remaking the Wes Craven (who also produced this modern update) cult-classic that is based on one of Ingmar Bergman’s most disturbing films. Both of it’s predecessors are highly praised by many (if you need [...]
Tags: Adam Alleca · Carl Ellsworth · Dennis Iliadis · Garret Dillahunt · Monica Potter · Sara Paxton · The Last House on the Left · Tony Goldwyn
Watchmen – Very Am-bitch-ious.
March 10th, 2009 7 Comments
The only thing better than the blogosphere tossing out reviews of Watchmen, is the blogging world blogging about bloggers tossing out reviews of Watchmen; which I am now guilty of. But it’s true. I would feel so redundant trying to verbalize how I feel about this film when I can just steal the opinions of [...]
Tags: Alan Moore · Alex Tse · Billy Crudup · Carla Gugino · David Hayter · Jackie Earle Haley · Jeffrey Dean Morgan · Malin Ackerman · Matthew Goode · Patrick Wilson · Watchmen · Zack Snyder
The Class (Entre les murs)
March 8th, 2009 6 Comments
The Palm D’or awarded at the Cannes Film Festival each year is a precarious award. Sometimes they get things right, sometimes they don’t. For example: it was awarded to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in a year when even the Oscars couldn’t pull it’s own head out of its ass. But some years, it [...]
Tags: François Bégaudeau · Laurent Cantet · The Class (Entre les murs)
WTF
March 5th, 2009 5 Comments
I like to think that I’m mostly in the know about movies. I have a pretty good idea of who’s doing what project with whom, what’s notable at the most recent film festivals, (a large part of this is due to all my blogging friends who attend TIFF, thanks for the heads up guys), when [...]
Tags:
