If the primary goal of We Need to Talk About Kevin was to incite the audience to want to cheer when a child is thrown across the room by his mom, then mission accomplished. Never before have I seen such an unlikable character on the screen as that of the title character Kevin. Whether it …
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Steven Soderbergh could have made the female Bourne movie. I’m afraid Joe Wright beat him to that with 2011’s Hanna. Granted, Hanna was an adolescent girl set in a bizarre modern day fairy tale. Haywire replaces the girl with a woman MMA fighter and trades the fairy tale for mostly mundane exposition. Mallory Kane (Gina …
I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone like Jeff (Jason Segel). A thirty years old, smoking pot, living in his mom’s basement, waiting for his destiny to come to him and magically control his life. I also didn’t expect to like Jeff, Who Lives at Home as much as I did. Jeff finds great significance …
Hollywood should thank George Bush for the war in Iraq. I think the wars there alone have provided no shortage of feature length films and documentaries – some them are even above average. Burn. The temptation is too great for most to politicize the war, no matter their political leanings. Instead of telling good stories …
If ever there was a film where I felt like I should have had a hard time staying awake, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy would be it. A “slow burn” if ever there was one. Scratch that. It’s a slow burn hitching a ride on a tortoise. The Cold War is on and there is a …
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Driving home a point in storytelling is tricky. For instance, you can go the route of a film like Fireproof which makes no attempt at subtlety. The message is front and center, with the story taking a backseat. And while Lars von Trier’s Melancholia does not preach, it also makes no attempt to hide its …
Quiet yet creepy. Not exactly a drama, yet definitely not a horror film, Martha Marcy May Marlene paints a haunting picture of the effects of a Manson Family like cult on a young woman who fled the terrifying backwoods group and attempts a return to normalcy. Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) reconnects with her sister, Lucy (Sarah …
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At least one definition of narcissism is stated as “Extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one’s own talents and a craving for admiration.” Or see the main character in Young Adult, Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron). She is the walking definition. Mavis writes young adult fiction. Throughout the film she struggles to write one last …
Watching dramas about characters thrown into tragedy along with their dysfunctional families can often be funny and not necessarily because laughs come at their expense but because they confront us about some (often painful) truth about ourselves and those around us. The Descendants is such a film. Matt King (George Clooney) is a lawyer who …
After working closely with those impacted by and helping out with the aftermath of a devastating tornado I’m not crazy about watching films that have tornadoes as a central prop. Take Shelter is more about a man struggling with losing his sanity than it is about the storms around him, whether they be real or …
