The 20 Best Performances of 2014
It was a great year for acting, and I still haven’t seen some of the year’s most acclaimed performances. If David Oyelowo (Selma), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights), or anyone else bowls me over the way they have so […]
Nymphomaniac: Volume I Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Volume I of famous Danish provocateur Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac saga is…well…incomplete. This portrait of a woman’s journey into sex addiction builds and builds and builds, and if Volume II delivers on the promise introduced here, these two drifting hours of character development will feel essential. On their own, they just don’t. […]
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 […]
Kill Bill Review
RATING: (4 STARS) I’m choosing to write about both volumes of Quentin Tarantino’s epic samurai revenge saga “Kill Bill†in one article because they are so inextricably linked. More so than even “The Lord of the Rings†trilogy, these two films feel as if they should be one. For the longest time, I refused to […]
