Zero Dark Thirty Directed by Kathryn Bigelow Written by Mark Boal USA, 2012 This years’ Academy Awards are surprisingly history-heavy. Lincoln and Argo are both period pieces telling true stories of widely-recognised and declassified events respectively; whilst Django Unchained is a very Tarantino take on Southern slavery-era America. Zero Dark Thirty is the most historically …
Zero Dark Thirty Directed by Kathryn Bigelow Written by Mark Boal USA, 2012 So little in this world is tangibly right or wrong that when an opportunity to channel our innate desire to see good triumph over evil comes along, we grab at it with all our strength. Such a chance arose in the aftermath …
Argo Directed by Ben Affleck Written by Chris Terrio USA, 2012 Improbably, Ben Affleck has turned his career around in the last few years from the pit where such cinematic embarrassments as Gigli and Daredevil forever reside. He’s essentially transformed himself from a tabloid cover-star into a poised actor-director who subscribes to the “Hollywood doesn’t …
Not too long ago I asked the Sound On Sight staff to choose their ten favourite films of all time. The result led to mixed reactions (both by staff and readers), and some angry feedback. But how could any of us select only ten films from the thousands we’ve seen and walk away happy with …
I’ve always been a war film buff, maybe because I grew up with them at a time when they were a regular part of the cinema landscape. That’s why I read, with particular interest, my Sound on Sight colleague Edgar Chaput’s recent pieces on The Flowers of War (“The Flowers of War Is an Uneven …
They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4 War is a nation’s ultimate commitment of blood and treasure. As such, the stories a people tells about its wars – and don’t tell …
I will leave the discussion of what/who won/didn’t win and why/why not to others. I have only one concern: Did it work? For the now befuddled, let me recap what I laid out back in January when the 2011 Academy Award nominations were announced: A year earlier, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences …
As happens every year around this time, the cable spectrum has been heavily laced with programming throughout the week commemorating Veterans Day. HBO trundled out its full epic and brutal miniseries The Pacific for a one-day re-run broken up by the debut of the James Gandolfini-hosted documentary War Torn 1861-2010, a disturbing look at the …
This may be the year the Oscars get out of their ratings slump. The expanding of the Best Picture category from five to ten was a smart move. Its big enough to include red state crowd pleasers (The Blind Side), fan boy fare (District 9), the biggest movie ever (Avatar), and at least one ballsy …
The Oscar telecast will air on ABC on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at 8 pm EST. Best Picture Avatar dir. James Cameron Stars: Sam Worthington Sigourney Weaver Michelle Rodriguez The Hurt Locker 2009 dir. Kathryn Bigelow Starring Jeremy Renner Anthony Mackie Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire dir. Lee Daniels Stars: Gabourey ‘Gabby’ …
79– Divine Intervention (2002) Directed by Elia Suleiman Genre: Dark Comedy, Drama Palestinian writer-director Elia Suleiman has rightfully been compared to Charlie Chaplin with his talent to create such brilliant deadpan black out sketches in the midst of his long slow-paced moments of expressive silence. Divine Intervention is his second feature, best described as the …
As the summer winds down, I decided to make my list of my ten favorite films so far in the year. With TIFF and Oscar season on their way, there’s a good chance that only half these films will make my top ten come the end of the year, but I felt the need to …
Originally Posted in Creative Loafing. 2009 is already halfway over, and the fall movie season (with all the originality and Oscar-bait it has to offer) is just around the corner. What follows is my list of the 25 films I’m most interested in seeing in the second half of 2009. Read all the way to …