Berlinale 2016 Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Creepy’
“Kurosawa possesses an almost supernatural ability to control his audience. “
Berlinale 2016: Jeff Nichols’ ‘Midnight Special’ – A Refreshingly Familiar Sci-Fi Adventure
“Midnight Special has an emotional core compelling enough to draw in massive crowds of cinemagoers, a sci-fi grandeur showy enough to pull in the Marvel/DC crowd (is there a still a DC crowd?), and a visual acuity worthy of the interest of even the most hardened cinephiles.”
We Failed This Film: Richard Ayoade’s ‘The Double’
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
Berlinale 2016: ‘Hail, Caesar!’ – A Serious Investigation of Film
“Like the films it contains, Hail, Caesar! mystifies its audience via otherworldly charm and magnificent grandeur — it is not a love letter to anything, it is a hymnal to the divine spirit of film.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘School Daze’ (Spike Lee, 1988)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Chase the Bronco: American Crime Story ‘From the Ashes of Tragedy’ and ‘The Run of His Life’ (Recap)
“Amidst the personal turmoil, the racial context of American Crime Story comes through even stronger in “The Run of His Life,” building on the insinuation of the Rodney King opening of the premiere.”
The Terrible Love of Werner Herzog’s ‘Grizzly Man’
“Faith is an admirable quality in the age of secular reasoning. How can a person believe in something that is not there? Only with their whole hearts.”
Martin Scorsese’s ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ and Why His Female Protagonist Matters
“For a legendary director known more for gangsters, hookers, and tough guys, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore stands as a remarkable chapter in the Scorsese canon.”
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Raising Arizona’ (1987)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Blood Simple’ (1984)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Barton Fink’ (1991)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Black Girl’ (Ousmane Sembène, 1966)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Review: Burr Steers’ ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’
“The morality and plot of the film, despite the hand-holding, are impossible to follow, as wars, balls, tea parties, schemes, and bizarrely combative discussions between sisters all feel as equally light and dreary as the next, like equal servings of spoiled plain yogurt.”
A Serious Investigation: A Fargoan on the Coen Brothers’ ‘Fargo’ (1996)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘A Serious Man’ (2009)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ (2013)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘L’inconnu du lac’ (Alain Guiraudie, 2013)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
The Inescapable Fever Dream of John Schlesinger’s ‘Midnight Cowboy’
“We dream, we fantasize, and we are haunted by that we cannot change. We are desperate to reinvent ourselves, and we always think some other place will be better.”
Review: Doron and Yoav Paz’s ‘JeruZalem’
“Like something completely lost in translation, JeruZalem is more Troll 2 than Cloverfield and contains all the ironic hallmarks of a future cult phenomenon.”
His Blazing Automatics: Gareth Evans Just Made the Best Action Film of 2016 in 5 Minutes with ‘Pre Vis Action’
“It’s not even February, but it feels safe calling Pre Vis Action the best action film of 2016.”