“‘Joe Versus the Volcano’ is as thoughtful and sensitive as it is goofy. It brims with the sort of amazement that can reawaken forgotten feelings, and resuscitate a heart clogged by ennui.”
“The thrill of a film like ‘Q & A’ comes in watching how Lumet finds new ways to level his criticisms, harnessing the cynicism that has propelled his work and suffusing each frame with deep, corrupting rot.”
“While it might be easy to assume that films like ‘Natural Born Killers’ and ‘Funny Games’ simply demonise their audiences as wanting the thrill of violence without thinking about the consequence of it, the films instead ask questions, instead of only providing answers.”
“Fathers make sense when we can reduce them to symbols, but the actual business of parenting is so defined by ‘feminine’ qualities — emotional openness, compassion, gentleness, patience — that we often struggle to correlate them with a father figure.”
“Both Lucas and Lynch’s world views allow for the possibility of personal atonement, and for external peace emerging from inner peace.”
“With ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Aviator,’ Martin Scorsese perfects a configuration of the biopic as self-recognized fiction.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
