Category: Review

  • Ant-Man / Bridge of Spies

    Ant-Man / Bridge of Spies

    Ant-Man doesn’t deserve some of its problems. A few – like “why was this made at all?” – might never be clearly resolved. That problem is wrapped firmly in the claws of another problem: the very public divorce between the film’s original writer – who was also going to direct the project – and Marvel…

  • Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party

    Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party

    For all of you who haven’t been wanting to watch this movie for over a year, allow me let you into my world. My anticipation for Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party started after seeing The Wise Kids which is a a similar but more idyllic movie by the same director, Stephen Cone. The Wise Kids was…

  • The Armor of Light

    The Armor of Light

    Weekdays as I exit the freeway on my way home from work, I frequently find myself at the stoplight behind a car that boasts a bumper sticker reading: “God, Guns and Guts Made America Great!” The first time I saw it I just shook my head in disbelief. Now, whenever I find myself behind this…

  • Crimson Peak

    Crimson Peak

    There’s a point in every scary movie where things fall apart and they cease to be scary. Depending on what you’re actually afraid of, that could come very quickly. In Crimson Peak, the new ghost story from Mexican fantasist Guillermo del Toro, more than half the film is spent sans ghosts. By the time they…

  • Sicario

    Sicario

    Every day, millions of people use drugs. They scrounge for money, find a dealer, and get high. That high comes with a price. Many drug users become swallowed up in the fog of addiction. Others push their bodies too far and overdose. But the consequences stretch even further. With demand, comes supply. Drugs are peddled…

  • Last Holiday

    Last Holiday

    “Pity The Blind,” the sign entreats, hung around the neck of a violinist, his eyes closed, as he plays a poignantly displacing melody; the notes are fitful and accepting, braided into a single cord that pulls you, meekly, steadily. This will be the key to Last Holiday, but we don’t know it yet. We also…

  • The Martian

    The Martian

    Manned missions to Mars are coming! Can you believe that? Humans are going to explore other planets! A mission to Mars is not just science fiction anymore as NASA will most likely send people to Mars sometime in the next 40 years. For some that is exciting (me included) – for others, we can only…

  • Babette’s Feast

    Babette’s Feast

    Babette’s Feast is the 1987 masterpiece by Gabriel Axel. Masterpiece, in this case, is the warranted term. The film is beautiful. Not just the cinematography — the sparse landscapes, and constant grays and blues that create an intensely happy sort of melancholy — not just the acting, or the script, or any particular aspect. They…

  • Everest

    Everest

    I’m not a fan of 3D. It’s not for lack of trying. I put on the glasses every now and again in the hopes they’ve perfected the formula. Maybe this time I’ll feel like I’m in the movie. But if James Cameron couldn’t do it for Avatar, no one can…yet. Suffice it to say, I…

  • The Place Beyond the Pines

    The Place Beyond the Pines

    We open to darkness and breathing. Then a man, pacing, flashing a switchblade. He stops, trades the knife for a coat, and leaves the room. We follow him through a noisy amusement park. Rides and lights glitter around him. People brush past. The man enters a tent as we hear his name announced. He mounts…