Film is a fickle medium. In any other industry if you take two of the top performers in their respective spheres and put them together you’ve got a hit. Derek Jeter and A-Rod, peanut butter and jelly, vanilla and chocolate. Like Captain Planet, their combined powers create something greater than the sum of their parts. [...]
Dear Mr. Burton: What happened to you? You used to be so creative, have such imagination. You were strange, unknowable but always managed to imbue your films with such heart and feeling. From “Ed Wood” to “Edward Scissorhands” to “Beetlejuice” your films have always entertained and inspired us. But when you undertook to usurp the [...]
What happens when Martin Scorsese, the master of personal, gritty, nuanced filmmaking decides to make a schlocky, B-movie-style, psychological thriller? You get a delicately constructed, multi-layered ode to the classics of Hollywood cinema, of course. Hitchcock, Kubrick and all the greatest elements of the noirs and suspense pictures of the 1940s and 50s are [...]
What do Peter Sellers’ character in Hal Ashby’s 1979 flick, “Being There” and Jason Reitman’s Oscar-bait movie, “Up in the Air” have in common? More than you might think. Also, can a middle-aged, sexually inactive divorcee be sexy? All that and more in this week’s edition of The Moving Arts FilmCast. Click below to listen [...]
Growing up in the 80s, Scott and I are quite fond of the brilliant special effects of our youth. From “Jaws” to “E.T.” to “The Empire Strikes Back,” you just can beat some good ol’ practical Hollywood effects. Or can you? This week we’ll discuss James Cameron’s much ballyhooed attempt at making practical effects all [...]
This week we’re trying something a little different. Scott, my usual co-host, was absent from class during the recording of the show so instead of scrambling to find a temporary replacement I decided to offer the audio versions of a couple of our already written reviews. This isn’t likely to become a staple of the [...]
Question. Where exactly are the wild things? Well, you could ask Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze, Max Records… or you could just listen the podcast and find out! Does the childhood classic turned hipster fantasy movie deliver? We’ll tackle that question as well as the ostensible Hollywood cash-grab, “Michael Jackson’s This is It.” How does the [...]
Judd Apatow’s latest venture into the world of comedy, “Funny People,” starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen goes under the TMA microscope. Is it a sign of maturation for the director? Or just a lot of penis jokes and sophomoric fare? Also, Scott and I discuss the impact and influence of 1980s teenage-flick auteur, John [...]
This week’s show is a study in contrast as we review and compare Hollywood’s painfully formulaic and offensive offering, “The Ugly Truth,” and the stubbornly independent, shoe-string budgeted, almost entirely improvised “Cut From Home.” What can we learn from the overworked, diluted scripts and direction of a Hollywood tentpole release — and of it’s antitheses [...]
This week Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq War film, “The Hurt Locker,” goes under the TMA microscope. Does it live up to all the hype? Also, Scott talks about the Jude Law, Ed Harris sniper flick, “Enemy at the Gates.” And last but most certainly not least, this week’s top five list: The worst big budget movies [...]
Loco: London’s 1st Comedy Film Festival
Orlando: Does Sex Matter?
A soothing demise: Lars von Trier’s ‘Melancholia’ considered
The Power of Limits in The Five Obstructions
Surviving ‘Surviving Life’
‘The Other’ at The 2nd London Iranian Film Festival
‘Leaving’: Made in Prague
A Step Forward: New African Film in Paris
Adapting to The Skin I Live In: The Antidote to Horror
Chicken with Plums: Better on Paper
