Limited Omniscience: ‘Narcos’ Episodes 1.1-1.5
“Netflix’s new series Narcos begins with a quote regarding the birth of magical realism, and its point of emphasis reveals quite a bit about the series it precedes.”
His Blazing Automatics: The Theme Park Ride Exhilaration of Marcus Dunstan’s ‘The Collector’ and ‘The Collection’
A Column by Dylan Moses Griffin
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Cat People’ (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
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
Dog Days of September: The American League Belongs to the Underdogs
Dylan Moses Griffin on Small Ball Strategies
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.”
An Abrupt Ending: Hannibal ‘The Wrath of the Lamb’ (Recap)
“If The Wrath of the Lamb doesn’t quite work as a series finale, it’s only because it wasn’t really supposed to be one.”
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.”
Obscuring and Clarifying Evil: Hannibal ‘The Number of the Beast is 666’ (Recap)
“Another week of Hannibal, another gripping second act septic.”