Before I Disappear Written and directed by Shawn Christensen USA/UK, 2014 We don’t get many cinematic one-man shows these days. Shawn Christensen takes up the challenge by writing, directing and starring in the new indie mind-screw, Before I Disappear. Though thin on plot and heavy on convulsions, there’s enough visual flair and wickedly-dark humor to …
It is always a little special when a film that on the surface bears no signs of ulterior motive becomes the subject of mass deconstruction by a plethora of critics, casuals and the insane. Case in point would be Sound on Sight’s film of 2011, Drive.
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 11 – “Aon Rud Persanta” Written by Chris Collins and Kurt Sutter Directed by Peter Weller Airs Tuesday nights at 10 on FX Nero calls it the Godfather dilemma: the more you try to distance yourself, the closer you get sucked in. Tara is extremely familiar with this concept …
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 2 – “One One Six” Written by Chris Collins & Adria Lang Directed by Peter Weller Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX FX has pretty much let Kurt Sutter have his way with Sons of Anarchy. Even when disregarding how combative the series is with non-premium cable content (Sons is …
While Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter tends to favor the music montage sequence for beginnings and/or ends of episodes, this season six premiere – “Straw,” which may also be the penultimate season premiere for this series, since it is only planned to run through seven seasons – opens with a montage set to Jax’s narration as he reads from a journal entry he is writing for his sons.
If Calvin and Hobbes, those most delightful and beloved comic-strip characters, made a monster movie out of one of their fever-dream playtime japes, it would probably look a great deal like Pacific Rim. The sweaty, breathless determination with which the film’s main concept plays out, as well as how frequently it aims to top itself, is both charming and a mild hindrance. (Cartoonist Bill Watterson was able to get away with such boyhood tomfoolery because he was working with a much shorter amount of space and time.) Co-writer and director Guillermo del Toro has broken free of his almost quaint, homemade style in Pacific Rim, delivering, in many ways, the ultimate summer movie, for good and ill.
Crave Directed by Charles de Lauzirika Written by Charles de Lauzirika and Robert Lawton USA, 2012 Although this review is going to be about Charles de Lauzirika’s Crave, it seems appropriate to talk about it in relation to Taxi Driver, because despite its best efforts to differentiate itself, Crave just can’t seem to emerge from …
Crave Directed by Charles de Lauzirika Written by Robert Lawton & Charles de Lauzirika USA, 2012 Genre movies express and nourish the unconscious thoughts, fears, and desires of their audience. Fans of thrillers or action films first find their morbid curiosities sated and then their dreams of heroism and personal strength. Crave might be the …
Sons of Anarchy, Season 4 Recap Created by Kurt Sutter Airs on FX If getting out was that easy, this would simply be a different show; so while highly predictable, this season‘s ending brought the Shakespearean step-father-son relationship finally to the peak season one had already laid out: Jax stepping up to the gavel. Hopefully …
Day 4: La Cité des Enfants Perdus (1995) Written by Gilles Adrien and Jean-Pierre Jeunet Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet What’s it about? A little girl, Miette, and a carnival strong man, One, team up to look for One’s brother, Denree, who’s been kidnapped by a mad scientist attempting to steal children’s dreams. …
Season of the Witch Directed by Dominic Sena Written by Bragi F. Schut 2010, USA As if to simplify things for the beleaguered critic, Season of the Witch makes clear right away that it has absolutely no stake in its own moral credibility. After a brief – and ambiguity-destroying – prologue, in which a priest …
I Sell The Dead Directed by Glenn McQuaid When January rolled around, I was all ready to throw in the towel and declare 2009 a wash for movies in general. I’ll tell you what, though. I continue to be surprised by some of this year’s offerings and some of last year’s that are finally making …