Review: Brian Helgeland’s ‘Legend’
“Little more than an extravagant, blood-soaked and alcohol-fueled story, Legend fulfills its title; an overinflated piece of bar room folklore better told over a cold pint of Guinness (or several)”
The Dueling Cavalier: The Challenge of Representing Creative Genius in ‘The End of the Tour’ and ‘Whiplash’
A Column by Max Bledstein
Alison Brie Shines in ‘Sleeping with Other People’
“Headland’s screenplay fires a couple of blanks, which serves to only highlight some of the more token traditional rom-com tropes still on offer here. That said, when Sleeping with Other People does hit — which is a lot of the time — it’s an invigorating spicing up of formula; a winning balance of hedonism and heart that’s unapologetic about either quality.”
SANFIC 11: Kill (f)or Love: Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s ‘The Assassin’
Jaime Grijalba on Santiago Festival Internacional de Cine
SANFIC 11: Tired Immigrants and Tired Violence – Jacques Audiard’s ‘Dheepan’
Jaime Grijalba on Santiago Festival Internacional de Cine
His Blazing Automatics: You and Me and the Devil Makes Three – The Religious Allegory of Craig Zobel’s ‘Z for Zachariah’
A Weekly Column by Dylan Moses Griffin
Review: Bob Byington’s ‘7 Chinese Brothers’
“While framed as a film about learning some great lesson about life and happiness, 7 Chinese Brothers never really builds from this assumed groundwork.”
Review: Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Queen of Earth’
“An intimate character study of a shifting, indefinable character, Queen of Earth pushes the already exceptionally talented Elisabeth Moss to new levels of intense frenzy and naked emotion.”
We Failed This Film: Matt Reeves’ ‘Let Me In’
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
The Dueling Cavalier: Contrasting Effectiveness of the Long Take in ‘The Tribe’ and ‘Birdman’
A Column by Max Bledstein
Of Love and Other Demons: Ideal Love in Cinema
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
His Blazing Automatics: The Communicative Filmmaking of Cornel Wilde’s ‘The Naked Prey’
A Column by Dylan Moses Griffin
VOD Review: Jonas Alexander Arnby’s ‘When Animals Dream’
“This recurring theme of women fighting against their suppression and abuse at the hands of men who fear them, despise them, or sometimes both, is by far the most interesting aspect of When Animals Dream.”
Locarno 2015: ‘I Remember Nothing’ (Zia Anger, 2015)
“Creating something beyond just an experience of mood and sensuality, Zia Anger offers a film that is consistently engaging and fun.”
Gone But Not Forgotten: Remembering Rudolph Valentino 89 Years After His Death
Rudolph Valentino (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926)
We Failed This Film: Walter Hill’s ‘Streets of Fire’
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
Of Love and Other Demons (From Locarno 2015): Peckinpah and Sex Part 3 – ‘Straw Dogs’
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Review: Sarah Violet-Bliss and Charles Rogers’ ‘Fort Tilden’
“A refreshing and dryly-hilarious glimpse into life at a certain time in a certain place, Fort Tilden brilliantly captures the “struggles” of two women who are uncertain of their roles in life.”
Locarno 2015: ‘88:88’ (Isiah Medina, 2015)
“The style of 88:88 has been compared to Jean-Luc Godard, specifically his recent projects like Film Socialisme (2010) and Adieu au langage (2014). What sets this film apart from Godard is an intimacy approaching a breach of privacy.”
Locarno 2015: ‘La vallée’ (Barbet Schroeder, 1972)
“La vallée is not an entirely successful film, largely because of its limp energy and problematic ideological frameworks. It is, however, intensely bizarre and a fascinating portrait of a particular time and place.”