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4/5
|
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
(2006)
|
Judy Berman
|
"Ultimately, your work is your world," Walker says toward the end of the documentary. 30th Century Man succeeds, then, because it inhabits the world of its subject.
Posted Dec 06, 2018
|
|
4/5
|
My Winnipeg
(2007)
|
Judy Berman
|
More an abstract hallucination than a photo-realist portrait, My Winnipeg would be out of place on the "documentary" shelf at the video store. But it deserves prime placement in the Guy Maddin canon.
Posted Dec 06, 2018
|
|
2/5
|
New York, I Love You
(2009)
|
Judy Berman
|
Most of the shorts suffer from similarly hackneyed story lines, with all action leading up to a pat resolution.
Posted Dec 06, 2018
|
|
3.5/5
|
Humpday
(2009)
|
Judy Berman
|
Where Humpday really excels is in its depiction of Ben and Andrew's relationship. After so many years apart, they speak easily and candidly to one another...
Posted Dec 06, 2018
|
|
2.5/5
|
The Reader
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
Stephen Daldry never really develops this thesis of willed ignorance, opting instead for the impossible equation of relationship melodrama and mass genocide.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
0.5/5
|
The Unborn
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
The Unborn is an Exorcist ripoff, with Judaism taking over the religious reins from Catholicism. And sadly, there's no Friedkin behind the camera or Ellen Burstyn in front of the camera to save us from bad-movie hell.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2.5/5
|
Doubt
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
Shanley's Doubt hits and misses in equal measure. It's a tepid cup of tea, a sure Oscar bet. The biggest problem is Shanley sitting in the director's chair.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
0.5/5
|
I Can't Think Straight
(2007)
|
Lorian Long
|
No amount of lipstick is going to make I Can't Think Straight a better film.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
The Escapist
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
We have a film with a few standout performances, but nothing else to really carry it along.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2.5/5
|
Examined Life
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
We witness theory in action, but it's too little too late for Taylor's film to be anything but talking heads preaching to the choir.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
3/5
|
Who Does She Think She Is?
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
Who Does She Think She Is is the kind of film that won't make it outside art houses and feminist theory classrooms, which is a shame, because it serves as a kind of manifesto for anyone, regardless of gender.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2.5/5
|
Sex Positive
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
Daryl Wein makes the mistake of the novice documentarian, portraying his subject as hero rather than human.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
3.5/5
|
Food, Inc.
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
Food, Inc. is an incriminating portrayal of our nation's food industry.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
3/5
|
Perestroika
(2007)
|
Lorian Long
|
Perestroika plays like a dream, as past and present blend together in colors, emotions, words, and pictures.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
Public Enemies
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
Public Enemies, Michael Mann's latest macho extravaganza, is a feast for the eyes but a famine for the intellect.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2.5/5
|
The Road
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
Ultimately, the mediocrity of The Road can be blamed on Hillcoat's vision.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
3/5
|
Jennifer's Body
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
Thankfully, Jennifer's Body escapes the stale formula of female sexuality = death and destruction, by allowing "innocent" Needy to enjoy sex without using it as a weapon.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
1.5/5
|
Extract
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
Things just ain't as funny from the boss' point of view.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
The Headless Woman
(2008)
|
Lorian Long
|
The Headless Woman's greatest achievement is also its greatest flaw: Martel's decision to use camera angles rather than characterization to highlight the intricacies of class and apathy.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
4/5
|
Brüno
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
However, it is the outrageousness of Brüno's libido that liberates the film from being anything other than revolutionary.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
Youth in Revolt
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
Overall, Youth in Revolt is formulaic but genuine.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
Delta
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
Besides the film's aesthetics, Tth's performance may be the only reason to watch Delta.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
0.5/5
|
The Greatest
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
The Greatest is the kind of movie you're forced to watch on TBS while visiting your parents on a Saturday afternoon.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
1.5/5
|
I Am Love
(2009)
|
Lorian Long
|
I Am Love is visually alive, but emotionally still-born. Perhaps it's lust they're after, not love.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
The Last Exorcism
(2010)
|
Lorian Long
|
Despite a smart exploitation of the too-serious-for-its-own-good Exorcism film, The Last Exorcism does little else to complicate what could be a critique of parenting, dogma, and the science of shame.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
0/5
|
Hello Lonesome
(2010)
|
Lorian Long
|
There's really not much else to say about Hello Lonesome other than it could give the Lifetime channel a run for its hysterical money.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
3/5
|
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
(2011)
|
Lorian Long
|
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye is a thoughtful, beautiful portrait of two gender-bending weirdos in love with themselves and each other.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
1/5
|
Bonsai
(2011)
|
Lorian Long
|
Just once, though, it'd be great to see a film about writers that is as dull and pointless as my sitting here has been for the past two hours.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
4/5
|
Whores' Glory
(2011)
|
Lorian Long
|
Glawogger is much less interested in a moralistic agenda than he is in exploring just how visceral of a transaction love can be.
Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
4/5
|
The Master
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
I have no idea how to feel about this film. This is rare, and I like that The Master is difficult to parse upon a single viewing.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
1.5/5
|
Farewell, My Queen
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
A much better film could have been made if Jaquot had found a balanced parallel between the storming of the Bastille and Sidonie's attempt to simultaneously possess her Queen and annihilate herself. But no balance is found.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
Night Number 1
(2011)
|
Lorian Long
|
Catherine de Lan's performance in this last scene saves Nuit #1 from being a complete waste of time.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
Dredd
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
Director Pete Travis' Dredd drops the 'Judge' from the title of the 1995 camp-fest, Judge Dredd, and in doing so, evokes a heaviness that feels more, yes, 'dreadful' than its original Sylvester Stallone vehicle.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
0.5/5
|
Cherry
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
You're better off taking a tour of The Armory than you are watching About Cherry.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
3/5
|
Jeff
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
[Jeffrey Dahmer Files] is a bloodless, quiet, slowly-paced film about one of America's most notorious serial killers
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
1/5
|
Welcome to the Machine
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
Weider goes down the geek road of 'will the robots rule us?' and offers a bland, messy, and ultimately misguided documentary.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
1/5
|
Kaspar Hauser
(1994)
|
Lorian Long
|
If The Legend of Kaspar Hauser weren't based on an already inherently fascinating story of a pathological liar who fooled an entire society, then maybe it could pass as some vaguely interesting piece of eye candy.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
3.5/5
|
The Waiting Room
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
The Waiting Room is proof that we probably won't see any kind of stabilized universal healthcare in action for a very, very long time, despite the begging of so many who need it.
Posted Oct 05, 2017
|
|
5/5
|
Spring Breakers
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
Spring Breakers goofs off in a way atypical in Korine's body of work in that it's a tightly controlled substance.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
0/5
|
I Send You This Place
(2012)
|
Lorian Long
|
I don't understand why Sisson felt the need to narrate the film, as anything as massively ferocious as the land of ice can certainly present itself as the land of pain without Sisson's repeatedly voiced inner dialogue.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
0.5/5
|
The Canyons
(2013)
|
Lorian Long
|
The Canyons is void of any layers, any interesting shifts in narrative positions that would make it seem less definable and more complex.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
3/5
|
Camille Claudel, 1915
(2013)
|
Lorian Long
|
To watch the second half of Camille Claudel 1915 bomb so completely with an unnecessary shift in tone is annoying - mostly because self-reflection is always less interesting than the immersion of moment to moment.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
0.5/5
|
Her
(2013)
|
Lorian Long
|
Her is overwhelming in its narcissistic pity and entitled idleness.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
It's All So Quiet
(2013)
|
Lorian Long
|
It's a shame that impatience is such a target audience and filmmakers are quick to explain.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
2/5
|
Abuse of Weakness
(2013)
|
Lorian Long
|
It's unfortunate that the film based so literally on Breillat's life is perhaps her least ambitious and most forgettable film.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
5/5
|
A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
(2013)
|
Lorian Long
|
What's left is for us to disappear, and it is only with this disappearance of Self that utopia can be found.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
0/5
|
Fifty Shades of Grey
(2015)
|
Lorian Long
|
This fan base deserved something other than a glorified commercial, its blandness almost bullylike. Dear Reader, stick with the fantasy.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
|
Like Someone in Love
(2012)
|
Derek Smith
|
While the film doesn't have the complex ambiguity and thematic richness of its predecessor, it is a charming and unique addition to the Kiarostami canon.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
|
Amour
(2012)
|
Derek Smith
|
What the film lacks in Haneke's usually impressive formal rigor, it makes up for with truly earned emotional truths.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
|
|
Leviathan
(2012)
|
Derek Smith
|
If given the chance, this is not to be missed on the big screen.
Posted Oct 04, 2017
|
