Documentary Produced and directed by Gary Hustwit Director Gary Hustwit clearly feels passionate about typefaces. So do the graphic designers he interviews. Some consider the ubiquitous san serif font for which the movie is named to be brilliant and almost sacred–the perfect choice for everything. Another, only half joking, blames Helvetica for the Iraq war. [...]
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Family drama/comedy Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins In Slums of Beverly Hills, Tamara Jenkins explored adolescence and the beginning of adult responsibility. In her new film, The Savages, she explores its end. More specifically, The Savages concerns itself with two siblings in early middle-age confronting that very difficult moment in life when a parent [...]
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Historical, romantic drama Written by Christopher Hampton, from the novel by Ian McEwan Directed by Joe Wright Sweeping historical epics sweep by a lot faster, these days. According to the Internet Movie Database, the very British World War II love story Atonement runs only 130 minutes. It felt like only about 120 to me. And [...]
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Click here for Part I. Last year around this time, I wrote a post about the best festival-only films I’d seen that year. Not a very practical list, as none of these films were readily available to American audiences, but I thought an interesting one. And perhaps, I told myself, my praise might get some [...]
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It’s December, when movie critics’ minds turn to their annual Top Ten lists. We don’t actually publish the list until January, but we think about it now. At least I do. and I thought I’d share my thoughts on the subject with you . So let’s get started with the rules. To qualify for my [...]
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Arty fantasy thriller Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola Stylistically, it’s an art film, with slow pacing, a mix of muted and striking colors, and unusual camera angles. Yet the plot sounds like a superhero comic-book movie: Lightning strikes a 70-year-old college professor, but instead of killing him, it recovers his youth and gives [...]
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Thriller Written and directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy The Coen brothers haven’t quite topped themselves with their latest crime-gone-wrong thriller; Fargo is still their best picture. But they never before made anything so dark and depressing as No Country for Old Men. Or so bereft of [...]
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I couldn’t attend the entire San Francisco Silent Film Festival–Winter Edition yesterday, but I caught the 8:00 screening of Flesh and the Devil. Good show. The show started with a very short, and very odd 1906 Danish one-reeler call “Rivalinder.” I’m not sure to what extent this story of adultery and its cost was meant [...]
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