Magnolia Pictures
What does it mean to be a man? A woman? A father? A mother? Do our actions define who we are, or are we already defined by our gender? These questions and more are thrown around in Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure, Sweden’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards. Through […]
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As a musician who’s been in a few bands in differing capacities, I’m a little biased toward films like Frank. The quest for musical perfection, much less to master one’s craft or instrument, has always been fraught with great peril and comedy, as you’re constantly comparing yourself to other bands and musicians, either trying to […]
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There’s a scene in “Blackfish” that depicts how whalers used to separate killer whale (or orca) calves from their mothers. It’s an incredibly disturbing thing to watch, being somewhat reminiscent of 2009’s “The Cove” (a shocking exposé about dolphin poaching in Japan). In an illustration, we see how the orcas strategize to protect their young. Luring […]
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As a tennis fan from childhood, I spent a lot of time with my father watching the Grand Slam tournaments on television and attending exhibition matches locally here in DC at Rock Creek Park. Every few years or so, a new powerhouse player would come into the scene; the era which I remember was famous […]
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(This review was originally published on April 24, 2013 at Reel Film News) If Xan Cassavetes gets one thing absolutely right in her feature debut, it’s the tone of an authentic 1970’s European horror film. “Kiss of the Damned” harks back to a time when vampires were exclusively nocturnal and decidedly more aristocratic than metrosexual. […]
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(This review was originally published on November 30, 2012 at Reel Film News) If you were to combine “Reindeer Games” with “The Ref”, you might end up with something like “Deadfall”, a film that circles hungrily around the promise of a moral, as well as a twist, like a vulture waiting for something to die. […]
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(This review was originally published on October 5, 2012 at Reel Film News) Hmmmm…. an exclusively ‘found footage’ horror anthology. There’s an interesting concept. Like many compilations of its genre, “V/H/S” is hit or miss; sometimes it’s delightfully disturbing, and other times it feels recycled and uninspired. Consisting of five tales shot in the POV style […]
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(This review was originally published on September 7, 2012 at Reel Film News) I felt I had to weigh in on “Compliance”, which poses as an examination of human behavior in order to feed us more of the exploitative garbage that I was hoping would eventually fade from contemporary cinema. I know, what a ridiculous […]
Read More(This review originally appeared at Reel Film News on August 10, 2012.) Sometimes, a film’s genre definition tends to get turned completely on its head. Fernando Meirelles’ 360, for example, is a Crash-like film where the characters’ lives all intersect at one point or another, often through disparate circumstances. Right off the bat, describing it […]
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(This review was originally published on August 10, 2012 at Reel Film News) My wife told me she thought “2 Days in New York” felt a lot like a dream. I agreed with her, but I think she meant it as more of a compliment than I did. For me, it felt like running into a […]
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