Undertow Ah, magical realism. What a wonderful literary device. On celluloid it’s quite another story. Dozens of filmmakers have tried, with varying degrees of success, to capture that elusive mix of matter-of-fact naturalism and whimsical flights of fancy that have turned Latin American novels like Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits and Laura Esquivel’s [...]
Thanksgiving weekend is upon us, and while temperatures continue to drop outside, in the crowded confines of your local multiplex it’s going to feel like summer never ended. The difference – and it’s a crucial one – is that the studios have gotten their act together after coming up short several months ago. Judging from [...]
He survived the Nazis in the 1930s. He went to Harvard in the early fifties. And in 2000 he won the Nobel Prize for his game-changing research on how the brain stores memories. But what makes neuroscientist Eric Kandel such a ready-made documentary subject is that peculiar, scratchy laugh, one you hear often during the [...]
“Edith Wharton gone Orthodox.” That’s what I jotted down as all that sexual tension burned off the screen in Israeli director Haim Tabakman’s solid debut feature Eyes Wide Open, and that’s as accurate a catchphrase I can think of to describe it. The film, one of four new movies I’m reviewing during this very crowded [...]
Watch out, right-wing South Floridians. Michael Moore has invaded the region. Just don’t ask him what his new, top-secret project is all about. “I don’t really talk what I’m working on while I’m working on it. Suffice it to say I’m working on it here in South Florida,” he revealed during last Saturday’s press conference, [...]
Somewhere in that most bohemian part of heaven, Allen Ginsberg is having a good-natured chuckle. To play the freest and most outspoken of the Beat Generation writers, filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet) have cast James Franco. Yes, Mr. Ginsberg, they got a hottie to star in a movie about your life. [...]
I don’t get people’s aversion to documentaries. They’re boring, they claim, just a bunch of people giving long-winded answers to heavy-duty questions. Here’s my favorite line: They’re not real movies. Considering that 2010 has been a stellar year for nonfiction film, maybe it’s time for some of my closed-minded acquaintances to change their tune. What’s [...]
It was Monday night, and my blood was boiling. A horror movie fanatic friend of mine texted me about AMC Theaters’ decision to yank Hatchet II, Adam Green’s genre-reference-filled slasher sequel, after just one weekend and, it needs to be said, poor box office performance. (The film grossed just under $70,000 on 60 screens.) Low [...]
The Social Network Mark Zuckerberg is a jerk. Oh, but what a fascinating jerk he is. The creator of Facebook is the subject of David Fincher’s The Social Network, a tightly plotted chronicle of how the Harvard outsider stepped on quite a few toes during his meteoric rise to revolutionize the way we interact online. [...]
I may not be the most impartial person to review the further misadventures of Gordon Gekko. After all, I’ve held a grudge against the character ever since Michael Douglas beat out Robin Williams for the Best Actor Oscar back in 1988. This is not to imply, however, that I don’t appreciate how Oliver Stone was [...]
Cinephiles consider the start of the Toronto Film Festival in early September as the kickoff for the fall movie season, and it’s around this time awards-hungry indie labels and studio specialty divisions begin releasing prestige titles that gained international fame making the rounds at packed screenings in cities like Berlin, Venice and Park City. In [...]
I’m a sucker for anything related to Hollywood’s Golden Age. You know what I’m talking about: those iconic black and white or Technicolor images idealized in attractions like Disney Studios’ Great Movie Ride. Tinseltown is a very different place now, what with the current 3-D craze and filmmakers’ reliance on digital technology, so you can [...]
