“‘Joker’ is what so many controversial films turn out to be: it’s fine — neither masterpiece nor trash fire, well-executed in some parts and poorly thought out in others.”
“Confronted, challenged and upended throughout the course of Michael Cimino’s ‘The Deer Hunter,’ conventional notions of masculinity are routinely conditional to the film’s dominant shifts in setting and tone.”
Weekend Vibes is a Friday column about streaming recommendations, new release hype and entertainment events.
In the Vague Visages Writers’ Room on Facebook, freelancers were asked to comment about their favorite neo-noir films in celebration of #Noirvember.
“In Scorsese’s inversion of the downfall, paradise isn’t the origin and its loss doesn’t mean moral decrepitude, only mediocrity.”
“With ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Aviator,’ Martin Scorsese perfects a configuration of the biopic as self-recognized fiction.”
“Ray never lets us off the hook throughout ‘In a Lonely Place’. Why should he at the end?”
“In comparing the new film with American Hustle and The Fighter, Russell’s frenetic style succeeds in the previous two through a shifting focus that feels at bit more at home in the context of a sprawling ensemble piece.”
Q.V. Hough on Nightcrawler and the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
