The English Patient Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient is exactly what one might expect out of a Best Picture winner. It’s a grand, sweeping, epic love story that covers a lot of ground. It takes place in an exotic land, against the backdrop of WWII. And its technical credits—though not very subtle—are quite impressive. It’s […]
Red Review
RATING: (3 STARS) It’s hard to watch Red and not smile at least a little. Of course, it’s absolutely ridiculous, but it never takes itself too seriously. Is it as funny as it could have been? Probably not (I think an R-rating would have done the film wonders), but you’ll almost certainly have a good […]
TOP 10: Worst Oscar-Nominated Performances of the 2000s
This week, I was inspired by just how strong the acting categories are at the Oscars across the board. Are the five nominated actors and actresses in each category my very favorites? No, not quite, but there really aren’t any performances that I find undeserving. Below are ten nominated performances (from the last decade) that […]
Nowhere Boy Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Nowhere Boy is about as unremarkable as films get. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it; It’s just entirely forgettable. Take away the lead character’s name, and this wouldn’t be a story worthy of the cinema. Even Beatles aficionados would likely agree that their hero’s, John Lennon’s, personal history has to be more […]
Blue Valentine Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine is a minor miracle of a film. Like John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole, the film attacks a familiar subject matter (a breakup) with uncommon emotional honesty. What sets Blue Valentine apart from other similarly themed films is that we become invested without even necessarily wanting this couple to […]
Ranking the Coen Brothers’ Movies
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my two months dissecting the entire Coen Brothers filmography, it’s that even when you know to expect the unexpected, you can never quite prepare yourself for what these two minds will throw at you. From the daring unfussiness of Blood Simple, to the epic absurdity of The Big […]
The Man Who Wasn’t There Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The Man Who Wasn’t There is a deliciously offbeat, darkly comic noir that could only come from the minds of Joel and Ethan Coen. The story’s twists are painfully clever, and its performances are nearly perfect. It’s a little long-winded, which prevents it from being among Fargo and No Country for Old […]
Burn After Reading Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There are two types of Coen Brothers films—ones that examine human nature and consequence and others that are just utterly absurd. Burn After Reading, like The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona, falls squarely into the latter category. It’s a film about incomprehensibly dumb people doing incomprehensibly dumb things. None of it makes […]
The Big Lebowski Review
RATING: (4 STARS) The Big Lebowski has to be one of the most absurd movies I’ve ever seen. It’s practically plotless. Its comedy is gleefully absurd. And it doesn’t once try to be something it’s not. As always, I admire the Coens for going so out there and not caring if they lose a majority […]
TOP 10: Oscar Acting Snubs of the 2000s
I wrote my overly enthusiastic write-up on the Oscar nominations a few days ago, but the reality is that quite a few of my favorite performances were left out. No Aaron Eckhart. No Leonardo DiCaprio (for either Shutter Island or Inception). No Marion Cotillard. No Robert Duvall. And no Julianne Moore. But if I’m being […]
Buried Review
RATING: (1.5 STARS) I’ve made my love for 127 Hours plain enough around here, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Buried was pretty high on my most-anticipated list. After sitting through Rodrigo Cortes’ film, however, I can say the two bear little resemblance. Besides the obvious “lone man trapped and fighting for his […]
Ordinary People Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Ordinary People is one of those Best Picture winners that gets a bad rap. It’s easy to write the film off because it’s a simple, though powerful, vision, and it went up against one of the most highly regarded films ever (Raging Bull). But you can’t, or at least shouldn’t, completely ignore […]
No Country for Old Men Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Has there ever been a more unlikely Best Picture winner than No Country for Old Men? It’s a dark, somewhat cold picture that will confound your expectations at every turn. I’ve probably seen it about a dozen times, and I find something different to love about it each time—from the brilliant performances […]
Animal Kingdom Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Last April, I spoke to Nash Edgerton, director of The Square, about his film and the state of Australian cinema. He told me to keep an eye out for Animal Kingdom, a gangster thriller in the vein of Goodfellas that would be coming out a few months later. I finally caught up […]
The Hudsucker Proxy Review
RATING: (3 STARS) While The Hudsucker Proxy doesn’t quite reach the same level of insanity as the Coen Brothers’ earlier effort Raising Arizona, it certainly falls on the comedic side of their spectrum. What’s interesting about the film is that it’s relatively successful in two very different types of comedy—satire and screwball. The former is […]
Top 10 Films of the 1990s
There are plenty of highly regarded films from this decade that I haven’t seen, mainly because I was too young at the time. And looking at the finished list, there are certainly some notable omissions. I find Pulp Fiction to be one of Tarantino’s least successful efforts—too meandering in the middle portion. As much as […]
