Earlier this year, when it was revealed that Anne Hathaway had been cast as Catwoman in Christopher Nolan’s hugely anticipated “The Dark Knight Rises,” fans were apprehensive. Had the announcement been made immediately after Hathaway’s career affirming turn in “Rachel Getting Married” (2008), folks might have been a little more accepting. But one over-eager Oscar [...]
True Grit, the Coen Brothers’ latest feature, opened the 61st Berlin Film Festival this evening. Based on a novel of the same name by Charles Portis, the Coen Brothers’ film is the second film adaptation of this Wild West tale: the first was in 1969 by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne. The Coen Brothers’ adaptation [...]
The theater doors blast open, and Quentin Tarantino’s band of Jewish soldiers bursts in with fury, guns first. Showering the audience—once their oppressors—in a rain of bullets, the gunmen stand triumphantly on a balcony that deteriorates as it is licked by flames. The viewers fall to their knees at the sight of the screen’s collapse. [...]
I don’t think there is a singular film-maker I’ve found myself having written more about than Australia’s own Dr. George Miller. And now, writing this, I’m still not quite certain of the best way to introduce him, if indeed such a thing is necessary at all. The last of cinema’s thoroughly modern myth-makers – those [...]
The month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god of exits and entrances. Janus is most commonly depicted in ancient art as having two faces, one looking backwards while the other looks forward. Janus is also symbolic of changes and transformations. The prospect of exiting and entering, of endings and new beginnings, and [...]
Well well well, finally a George Clooney film without “George Clooney.” Indeed, “The American” is a film without much claim to plot, action or dialogue and is yet a compelling watch. I was seduced by its atmospherics and ambition. Anton Corbijn not only has a cool name but has also directed the luminous love letter [...]
Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective, Sherlock Holmes, is one of English literature’s most recognizable and enduring characters. As such, he has made more than 200 movies appearances since the inception of cinema. The master snoop had been portrayed by such luminaries as Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Christopher Plummer, Patrick Macnee, Jonathan Pryce, Christopher Lee and [...]
Martin Scorsese has seen it all. After a two-score year long journey in which he had experienced the highs and the lows of the business, the director has frequently been hailed “America’s greatest living filmmaker” in recent years and was finally even awarded the elusive Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing for “The Departed” [...]
As Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” arrives on DVD, I felt compelled give the film a second viewing. What I found was this: despite the overwhelming controversy surrounding the film’s gratuitous sexual violence, the most troubling, terrifying moments in “Antichrist” were essentially sexless and bloodless — and talking fox-less. I realized that much of “Antichrist’s” terror [...]
”Peepli Live” has been the toast and tea of town for the better part of this past year. A Sundance selection and Berlinale screening, it has been picking up favor and five star reviews across the Prime Meridian, becoming the focus of India’s annual interest in evaluating its culture through the Western eye. Unlike the [...]
DIFF 2012 Reviews: ‘Cinema Six,’ ‘Compliance,’ ‘Faith, Love and Whiskey’
Things I Don’t Understand (2011)
Jiří Trnka: Animation Retrospective
Lowlights of Cinélatino
Brevity Pays Off
‘A Secret World’ at Cinélatino
‘Future Lasts Forever’ at Sofia
Two Treatments of Italy’s Fascist Past
‘The Leopard’: novel, opera, but above all, film
We’ll always have ‘Casablanca’
