Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
In my latest Essential Docs piece for Sound on Sight, I took a look at the making-of-Apocalypse-Now documentary Hearts of Darkness and the trouble with chasing absolute truth through one’s art. It’s a pretty fascinating film, made up almost exclusively of archival footage from Francis Ford Coppola’s wife Eleanor’s on-set video and audio diaries. Give […]
Metropolitan Review
RATING: (3 STARS) It takes a bold man to craft a film around a group of really snotty, spoiled teenage Manhattanites, but Whit Stillman did just that with 1990’s Metropolitan. He judges these characters without coming across as too judgmental, crafts them in a way that they deserve our scorn and sympathy simultaneously. It’s a […]
Die Hard 2 Review
RATING: (3 STARS) To top the original Die Hard would have been damn near impossible. That director Renny Harlin followed it up with something as entertaining as Die Hard 2 is both surprising and satisfying. Harlin follows the first film’s formula almost to a fault, but it capitalizes on the first film’s strongest asset—its setting. […]
Eyes Wide Shut Review
RATING: (4 STARS) If The Shining was Stanley Kubrick‘s experimentation with the horror conventions, his final film, 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut, is his perfection of them. Not since, The Silence of the Lambs (maybe even The Thing or Alien) has pure dread been so eloquently captured on film. And it’s arguably not even a horror […]
The War Room
Presented in a shockingly hands-off fashion, The War Room is the most insightful look at politics ever put to film. Documentarians Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker don’t judge their subjects, nor do they weigh in on the politics of the moment. Both would be mistakes, robbing The War Room of its most interesting quality—its unabashed […]
Manhattan Murder Mystery Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Few would dispute that Woody Allen’s most fertile period was the late 1970s. Annie Hall and Manhattan are two of cinema’s most valued treasures, and for good reason. They are transcendent films, full of several magical moments. Allen’s 1980s pictures are also (mostly) exceptional. Crimes and Misdemeanors might be my favorite Allen […]
Cronos Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The horror genre is one I don’t get. The mainstream stuff is mind-numbingly stupid and full of pointless gore. The low-budget stuff is typically too low-budget to have any redeeming production values. That being said, it’s an undeniably important genre, more for the influence it’s had on some great directors. One of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Fargo Review
RATING: (4 STARS) It really doesn’t get much better than Fargo. The Coen Brothers’ films are all special in their own way (even if they aren’t entirely successful, like in the case of Barton Fink), but this one is just magical. It’s relatively simple and straightforward for a Coen film, but it touches on the […]
Barton Fink Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Until watching Barton Fink, I honestly thought the Coens could do no wrong. I had never seen a film of theirs that I didn’t at least like or admire on some level. This one I just didn’t get, to be honest. The film spins its wheels for nearly two hours and in […]
Sense and Sensibility Review
RATING: (4 STARS) In high school English class, I was the kid who usually didn’t bother reading the assigned novels. Victorian-style lit wasn’t really my thing. Unfortunately for me, filmmakers seem to love these types of stories. We’ve got plenty screen interpretations of Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, and Jane Eyre (with […]
Alien 3 Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The behind-the-scenes story of Alien 3 is almost as interesting as the film itself. Director David Fincher, in his feature debut nonetheless, was reportedly so frustrated with the studio interference that he essentially disowned the cut of the film that audiences saw in 1992. I did not watch that movie, so I […]
Fight Club Review
RATING: (4 STARS) The first rule of fight club (the organization) is that you don’t talk about fight club. The first rule of Fight Club (the movie) should be that you don’t try to write a review of Fight Club, for words can’t do this film justice. It’s something you have to see to believe. […]
Groundhog Day Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Groundhog Day is one of those films that can please just about every kind of moviegoer. Its charm is undeniable, and even the most cold-hearted viewer can get swept up in the premise’s cleverness and the romance’s tenderness. It’s got terrific performances, solid direction, and some truly timeless moments—what more can you […]
