5 Surprises To Watch For At The Oscars
It’s time to do what cinephiles do and speculate as to who the Oscar winners in major categories might be.
A Star is Born is Old-Fashioned Musical Melodrama Done Right…Mostly
The measure of success for a melodrama is simple: does it move you? In that respect, A Star is Born is an unqualified triumph.
Red Sparrow and the Objectification of Jennifer Lawrence
I’m not here to acclaim Red Sparrow as some misunderstood masterpiece. It’s not. Nor is it the disaster its detractors declaim it as.
Welcome to the World of Tomorrow! – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is everything its predecessor should have been. That doesn’t make it a masterpiece, but it’s pretty fun.
Joy (2015)
Watching David O. Russell’s Joy is akin to watching his career: abundant potential dribbling sadly away. The first half hour or so of the film, a biopic of Joy Mangano, Miracle Mop inventor (Jennifer Lawrence), takes the kind of stuff usually brushed over in these films – the anxieties of running household, familial tensions, financial…
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy promises the kind of irreverent disdain for blockbuster norms that founded the Marvel Studios juggernaut, way back when they handed the reins to Mr. Favreau and Mr. Downey Jr. It features an unapologetically weird crew of intergalactic outlaws – green-skinned princesses and rocket-wielding raccoons – in an unapologetically weird universe mined…
American Hustle (2013)
American Hustle reminded me of a scene from another, very different 2013 movie. About halfway through Spring Breakers, gangster-rapper (emphasis on the former) Alien, played by James Franco, bursts into a memorable, consumerist rant. “Look at my shit!” he cries, roving around his expensive bedroom, festooned with gold-plated guns and a television playing Scarface on…
Double Feature: Drive (2011) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
The Place Beyond the Pines is a difficult film to rate; it’s undeniably exciting and innovative, but its reach often exceeds its grasp. The film is a significant departure from Derek Cianfrance’s last film, Blue Valentine, which was an intensely intimate experience filmed in a grubby, shaky vérité style. His new film is more expansive,…
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