“Extraterrestrial” Director: Nacho Vigalondo Writer: Nacho Vigalondo Starring: Michelle Jenner, Carlos Areces, Julián Villagrán “Extraterrestrial” is a movie I’ve been excited about for a while, in part because of how it was marketed – the small, almost invisible glimpses of the alien ships in the posters, and the creative viral marketing aspect to it all. [...]
Judging from a conversation I overheard before the start of the screening, it seems that there will always be people who haven’t seen Casablanca (1942). ‘I can’t believe you guys have never seen it,’ said the man to the two friends he’d brought along. ‘How did that happen?’ Even the friends were probably wondering. Because [...]
Going to the cinema is one of many everyday pleasures to be had in Paris: the typical variety of films on offer, particularly in the Latin Quarter, seems like a 365-day film festival. On any given day, you could see the latest Hollywood release, new independent films from around the world, or a range of [...]
“Drive” romanticizes a lot of things that shouldn’t be romanticized: The myth of redemptive violence, dangerous and illegal driving, robbery, evading police and, most egregiously, Members Only jackets. But one thing Nicolas Winding Refn’s 80s-themed, stone-cold badass tale gets right, is the sheer power of cinematic style. The director of other style-over-substance masterpieces such as [...]
Up-and-coming auteur Rian Johnson recently tweeted, “The filmmaking in Hanna was pretty humbling.” That’s high praise coming from the man behind the indie caper sensation “Brick” and the quirky con flick “The Brothers Bloom.” But high praise is old hat for “Hanna” director Joe Wright who’s used to being gushed over by cinephiles. The minutes-long [...]
What would it be like if Alfred Hitchcock directed an episode of “Quantum Leap” with a script based on “Groundhog Day”? Well, it wouldn’t turn out exactly like “Source Code,” but it’d be pretty close. Duncan Jones (or Zowie Bowie if you prefer) wowed audiences lucky enough to catch his debut sci-fi thriller “Moon” (2009) [...]
Do humans really have free will? It certainly seems like we do. But, given the right conditions, science can accurately predict the behavior of atoms. And aren’t our bodies just a giant cluster of billions of atoms? So, it should be possible, theoretically, to consistently predict human behavior, thus rendering our freedom to choose a [...]
Teetering on the edge between melodrama and high art, “Black Swan” is a gripping, spooky, exultant picture that is as beautiful as it is ugly. Sure to divide audiences, its experimental, allegorical magic realism is the skeleton upon which the flesh of a twisted, psychological character piece is built. Nina (Natalie Portman) is a rising star in [...]
December 2, 2010 | Published in
Drama,
Film Reviews,
Thriller |
Read More »
Children are cinema’s simultaneously fetishized commodity and artless liability. You can’t harm them, yet you can have them perpetrate terrible acts of inhumanity. ”Ana’s Playground” cuts through the malaise of hypocrisy and transmits a violent, chaotic reality usually relegated to somewhere “out there” right into your brain. This 18 minute short centers on a ragged, [...]
I scarcely remember grinning as much during a film as I did while watching “Let Me In.” Grinning during a horror movie, you ask? Allow me to explain. It was an all-encompassing smile of pleasure, joy, satisfaction, surprise, and a little bit of awe at how carefully and reverently this film was adapted by American [...]
