Monthly Archives: November 2012
Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)
This one is up at No Ripcord. Click through below for the link. SKYFALL Review
Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)
In 1971, Hal Ashby released about a young man who is obsessed with death and meets a 79 year-old woman with the same obsession, and thus begins a beautiful friendship. 41 years later, Sean Baker took that film, Harold and Maude, and asked “What if we don’t know why they get along?” The answer is […]
Night On Earth (Jim Jarmusch, 1991)
At first glance, Night On Earth may appear to be the most exemplary film in Jim Jarmusch’s career. It unfolds in detached vignettes (five, this time) just like Mystery Train (1989) and Coffee & Cigarettes (2003); like those two and Down By Law (1986), it prominently features Tom Waits; and like all of his films, […]
Hitchcock (Sacha Gervasi, 2012)
My first review for The Film Stage, Hitchcock, is now live. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! EDIT: I always forget that links posted on wordpress don’t activate, so my apologies, this has been fixed. I also now have time to elaborate a bit and say that I am now a regular contributor to The Film Stage, […]
Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh, 2012)
In recent years, Steven Soderbergh has proven himself to be master of casting. From a group of nonprofessionals in small-town examination Bubble to porn-star Sasha Grey as the expensive call-girl in the recession drama The Girlfriend Experience to MMA fighter Gina Carano in the genre-examining Haywire. Add to that list Channing Tatum (who also had […]
The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)
The Omen, an early film by Richard Donner (who would go on to make the first two Superman films and all four Lethal Weapon entries) certainly shows its age. Jerry Goldsmith’s score, a varied mix of satanic chants and classical music, rightfully earned an Oscar. So haunting is the recurrent “Ave Satani” (itself nominated for […]
Haywire (Steven Soderbergh, 2012)
Haywire is a film that is so aware of what it is that it never pretends to ever be anything more. That is, Haywire is an action movie. Every scene in the film is a chase, fight, espionage mission, or hideout. The only exceptions are threatening phone calls or escape scenes. It sounds like a […]
The Double Life of Véronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1991)
The Double Life of Véronique is a very special movie. From the first scenes, beautifully orchestrated and gorgeously colored, that’s more than clear. Something about the elegiac movement of the film is sad but uplifting, emotional and intelligent, unique yet accessible. Shooting in luscious shades of greens and yellows, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s makes Double Life shimmer […]
The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke, 1989)
It must be half an hour into The Seventh Continent when we finally get a good look at the faces of Georg, Anna, and Eva. In that half hour we occasionally hear them talking, one mostly off-screen character to an entirely off-screen character, so perhaps what is so remarkable is that seeing this family, all […]
Capsule Reviews/Recap
Between NYFF press screenings/Critics Academy work and school getting into the routine, I’ve been behind on reviews and on my capsules. I intend for that to change (and am working on a review right now), but I think that I should note that while my writing has slowed, my viewing has not slowed quite as […]
Forrest In Focus: Critical Film Reviews 