|
|
Three Colors: Blue
(1993)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
The saturated hues are calming, protective, but also isolating; the rest of the world fades away when she's enveloped in the blue of the water.
Posted Jan 13, 2017
|
|
|
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(2005)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
It is a handsome production, an epic fantasy for younger audiences with a spiritual message, and it was followed by two more films in the series. This one remains the most satisfying and inspiring.
Posted Nov 18, 2016
|
|
|
The Blue Angel
(1930)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
American director Josef von Sternberg went to Germany to direct Emil Jannings in his transition from silent to sound cinema and returned to Hollywood with an international hit and a new star: Marlene Dietrich.
Posted Jun 16, 2016
|
|
|
What Price Glory?
(1926)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
... the film version thrives on comedy that is sometimes satirical and often ribald. And that comedy only occasionally intersects with the anti-war feeling implied in the title.
Posted Apr 25, 2015
|
|
|
Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf?
(2013)
|
Brandon Judell
|
The only saving grace in this witless production is the charismatic Agnes Olech, who plays a lovely cinematographer. Being the only one on the set who could act must have been a trying experience for this young star-in-the-making.
Posted Sep 02, 2013
|
|
|
Wish You Were Here
(2012)
|
Brandon Judell
|
Whatever sentiments the title 'Wish You Were Here' evokes in you, flush them. Here is no lighthearted vacation comedy but, instead, a well-acted "psychological thriller" with few thrills but much angst.
Posted Jun 08, 2013
|
|
|
The Brasher Doubloon
(1947)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
... something of a B+ movie, a low-budget treatment of Raymond Chandler's "The High Window" made with ambition and style, at least in key scenes.
Posted Mar 24, 2013
|
|
10/10
|
No
(2012)
|
Brandon Judell
|
This battle and this triumph of an ad executive makes NO the first great film of 2013, and Bernal's performance the one that will be the hardest to outshine.
Posted Jan 16, 2013
|
|
|
Madrid, 1987
(2011)
|
Brandon Judell
|
Seldom has a great film accomplished so much with so little. Well, that's if you consider an insanely quotable screenplay so little.
Posted Nov 12, 2012
|
|
9/10
|
The Other Son
(2012)
|
Brandon Judell
|
An unbelievable situation becomes remarkably tangible here and oh so pertinent.
Posted Oct 31, 2012
|
|
|
Going South
(2009)
|
Brandon Judell
|
Worth viewing if you can enjoy a world populated by distraught people who all look like supermodels yet can act.
Posted Oct 31, 2012
|
|
|
Crayfish
(2009)
|
Brandon Judell
|
A slight Bulgarian comic tragedy in which two poor pals do each other in by accident after being hired by warring crime lords.
Posted Oct 31, 2012
|
|
|
Peggy Sue Got Married
(1986)
|
Brandon Judell
|
The film often soars into the imaginary heavens of delight but then just as quickly sputters and crash lands due to Coppola's leaden helming.
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
|
Clown
(2010)
|
Steve Dollar
|
Every seemingly happy resolution sets up the next catastrophe.
Posted Jul 23, 2012
|
|
|
Paul Williams Still Alive
(2011)
|
Vadim Rizov
|
Short and snappy, Paul Williams: Still Alive adroitly juxtaposes an archaic form of fame with one of its practitioners' present-day survival.
Posted Jun 08, 2012
|
|
|
The Giant Mechanical Man
(2012)
|
Brandon Judell
|
A solid summer palate cleanser to savor between all those main courses of superhero wham-a-thons.
Posted May 08, 2012
|
|
|
Francophrenia
(2012)
|
Brandon Judell
|
In '127 Hours,' James Franco hacked away at his arm. During 'Francophrenia,' you might just wish he did the same to his head.
Posted May 06, 2012
|
|
|
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
(1971)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
It's Gene Wilder, at the top of his form, who makes this uneasy amalgam work, but [Mel] Stuart must surely deserve some of the credit...
Posted May 04, 2012
|
|
|
Caroline and Jackie
(2012)
|
Steve Dollar
|
Marguerite Moreau (Caroline) and Bitsy Tulloch (Jackie) play their yin/yang roles with a gleaming intensity as the story veers increasingly stranger and darker.
Posted Apr 30, 2012
|
|
|
The Hunger Games
(2012)
|
Brandon Judell
|
The basic problems stem from the lackluster direction and the witless, bare-bones screenplay. This is sort of a BookRags.com take on a classic. You get the characters and the plot basics, but the art is missing.
Posted Mar 23, 2012
|
|
|
Hanna
(2011)
|
Brandon Judell
|
A sour, empty graphic novel of an escapade from the man who once helmed 'Atonement,' 'Hanna' gets intensely more godawful as it approaches its climax.
Posted Nov 27, 2011
|
|
6/10
|
Kung Fu Panda 2
(2011)
|
Brandon Judell
|
What could up have amounted to a highly moving work of art is constantly diminished by low-grade TV sitcom humor such as can be found on any series starring Kevin James or James Belushi.
Posted Nov 27, 2011
|
|
|
The Wrecking Crew
(2008)
|
Brandon Judell
|
This sing-along, joyful doc unearths a group of musicians who actually played all the music on the LPS by the Byrds, Cher, Nancy and Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, the Monkees, and Captain and Tennille. A must to see and listen to.
Posted Jul 29, 2011
|
|
|
Elegy
(2008)
|
Brandon Judell
|
Your final affection for this literary treat of sorts is how well you accept the finale, which is touching, and intellectually potent, yet possibly one depressant too many.
Posted Jul 29, 2011
|
|
|
Ballast
(2008)
|
Brandon Judell
|
His brilliant "Ballast" was as much a hit in Seattle as it was at Sundance.
Posted Jul 29, 2011
|
|
|
Epitaph
(2007)
|
Brandon Judell
|
A Japanese morgue-based horror film lacking in much horror
Posted Jul 29, 2011
|
|
|
Battle in Seattle
(2007)
|
Brandon Judell
|
This thriller will inspire any leftie cells you might possess to stand up and cheer.
Posted Jul 29, 2011
|
|
|
Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish
(2010)
|
Brandon Judell
|
If Shakespeare were alive today and in good health, as I'd wish him to be in, he'd probably be begging for a circumcision to honor this little film that gets the gist of his most famous tragedy down pretty well.
Posted Jun 25, 2011
|
|
|
Angels Crest
(2011)
|
Brandon Judell
|
We watch as this open wound of a father slowly fragments. Thanks to Dekker's brave, nuanced performance, this vision is simultaneously thrilling and harrowing.
Posted Apr 28, 2011
|
|
|
Big Boss
(1995)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
... a mix of caper, revenge and gang war movies rolled into a neat package ...
Posted Mar 25, 2011
|
|
10/10
|
A Film Unfinished
(2009)
|
Brandon Judell
|
Painful, eye-opening, and extraordinarily necessary to view, especially by the young to whom the Holocaust is nowadays too abstract a notion to fully mentally envision in all of its grotesqueness
Posted Mar 22, 2011
|
|
9/10
|
Heartbeats
(2010)
|
Brandon Judell
|
The magic of Heartbeats is comprised not just of its subtle acting, but also of it colors, music, fashions, editing, and cinematography. If it isn't perfect, it promises that Dolan in coming years will constantly be closing in on perfection.
Posted Feb 15, 2011
|
|
5/10
|
Kaboom
(2010)
|
Brandon Judell
|
Araki, who must be applauded at least for brazenly championing bisexuality, really should have saved the title of his 1994 effort for this one: Totally F***ed Up.
Posted Jan 03, 2011
|
|
|
Blow Job
(1963)
|
Brandon Judell
|
When the film was screened for a bunch of Columbia University students, they started singing, 'We Shall Never Come!'
Posted Dec 16, 2010
|
|
|
The Next Three Days
(2010)
|
Brandon Judell
|
In the end, you get a thriller that's basically about nothing and not that thrilling. This is a product made to place in theaters like a can of Del Monte Sliced Peaches is manufactured for a grocery shelf.
Posted Nov 20, 2010
|
|
|
Hereafter
(2010)
|
Brandon Judell
|
According to Eastwood and Morgan (who had much better luck with his screenplays on Queen Elizabeth, Idi Amin, and David Frost), people die so two self-indulgent souls can finally find true love while dreadful music plays in the background.
Posted Nov 19, 2010
|
|
|
The Main Event
(1938)
|
Sean Axmaker
|
While this 1974 concert does not capture Sinatra at his prime, his tone improves over the course of the set and his phrasing remains as seemingly effortless as ever.
Posted Nov 04, 2010
|
|
|
From Paris With Love
(2010)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
Morel's underrated eye and knack for making kinetic movement rhythmic and easy to follow elevates Besson's run-of-the-mill, mismatched-buddy thriller into a propulsive, enjoyably Eurotrashy entertainment.
Posted Jun 15, 2010
|
|
8/10
|
A Married Woman
(1965)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
... effortlessly and damningly dissect[s] the ugliness of beauty culture.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
6/10
|
Nenette and Boni
(1996)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
It's a melodramatic premise on paper that, in the wrong hands, might have succumbed to the sensationalism of its mildly incestuous undertones.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
6/10
|
Stingray Sam
(2009)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
From rockabilly freakouts to an acoustic lullaby, the soundtrack here is diverse, catchy and easily the film's most exuberantly charming quality.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
6/10
|
Absurdistan
(2008)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
A simplistic, straightforward tale that's beautifully staged with the same wave of the magical-realism wand that powers Jeunet & Caro's Delicatessen.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
7/10
|
Next Day Air
(2009)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
Updates the spirit of blaxploitation without feeling pressed to worship or satirize it.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
7/10
|
O'Horten
(2007)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
If you can settle into [Baard Owe's] playful deadpan rhythms, a bittersweetly funny, existential mystery -- or call it a modest adventure, if that's not too oxymoronic -- awaits.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
7/10
|
High School Record
(2005)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
Naturalistic, semi-improvised series of awkward comic vignettes ... nails the liberating/frightening social moments of post-pubescence in all their riches of embarrassments.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
6/10
|
Spread
(2009)
|
Aaron Hillis
|
Spread eventually reveals a gloomy raincloud of a moral meditation about unhealthy lifestyles and self-delusion.
Posted Nov 17, 2009
|
|
2.5/5
|
Provoked
(2007)
|
Craig Phillips
|
A melodrama dressed up just enough to hold interest, in the retelling of an undeniably important story.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
|
|
3.5/5
|
I Am Legend
(2007)
|
Craig Phillips
|
I Am Legend is three film genres for the price of one: Science Fiction, Action, and Horror, and while it's no classic in any one arena it remains edgy fun.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
Exiled
(2006)
|
Craig Phillips
|
Exiled veers on the pretentious ...but the whole thing has such a humor about itself that it's hard to carp about it.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
Days of Glory
(1944)
|
Craig Phillips
|
A terrifically gripping WWII drama that manages to balance introspection with bursts of battlefield action.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
|
>