When Fargo was released 20 years ago, its subsequent success would have seemed unlikely, even impossible. The Coen brothers’ three previous films had all failed at the box office, despite receiving glowing reviews. On its surface the film would seem too dark and too violent to ever attract audiences, another flop in the making. But …
An observant script and amazing performances make ‘Room’ one of 2015’s most gut-wrenching viewing experiences
Room Written by Emma Donoghue Directed by Lenny Abrahamson Ireland / Canada, 2015 Following the quirky yet deeply satisfying Frank, director Lenny Abrahamson brings us a wholly different cinematic entity with Room. Brie Larson (Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now) and Jacob Tremblay (Before I Wake) suffuse the screen with tenderness as a mother and …
Sam Rockwell’s secret weapon is not his gift of gab, but his ability to use that chatty nature to disarm everyone around him. Rockwell, so rakish and charming in this summer’s indie hit The Way, Way Back, isn’t the kind of actor who can’t play taciturn, but deliberately robbing him of his quirky, squirrelly speech patterns is always a bit of a letdown.
A Single Shot USA, 2013 Directed by David M. Rosenthal When John Moon (Sam Rockwell) accidentally shoots a young woman and discovers a bag full of cash, he has to make the fateful decision whether to provide for his separating family or come out clean. His struggle to conceal both the death and the money …
For better or worse, films don’t exist in a vacuum. If literature derives from itself, and, according to Marshall McLuhan, the content in any new medium is always the same as in the old, then films don’t exactly have a wealth of opportunities to be original. You can always compare a film to one that …
The Sessions Directed by Ben Lewin Written by Ben Lewin USA, 2012 Sometimes, all a movie needs to be even moderately successful is great acting. Though The Sessions (a big hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival under its original name, The Surrogate) has a compelling nugget of a plot, what makes it powerful is …
The Sessions Directed by Ben Lewin Written by Ben Lewin USA, 2012 All animals have sex for reproduction. Some even have sex for pleasure. But human beings are distinct and distinguishable as the only species on earth that has sex for love. As a physical manifestation of our desires, and as a way of expressing …
Hulks, high-flyers and web-slingers – it was a decade dominated by superheroes of all shapes, sizes and hues. And in the unlikely event that Batman, Superman or Iron Man failed to wow you at the box office, there were brooding, muscle-bound guys with cool gadgets (Bourne and Bond); a precocious young wizard (Harry Potter); and …