A political drama Written by Abderrahmane Sissako and Kessen Tall Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako At first glance, life in the fabled city and the surrounding prairie seem to have changed little over the centuries. But there are changes far more unsettling than the ubiquity of cellphones. An armed group of Muslim fundamentalists have taken over … Continue reading Timbuktu: Tyranny works slowly
Category: Reviews
Bisexual Iranian Immigrant Comedy Not Great–But Appropriate
C Comedy Written and directed by Desiree Akhavan There's nothing really wrong with Desiree Akhavan's autobiographical tale about a twenty-something woman trying to find her place--professionally but mostly romantically and sexually--in Brooklyn. But there's nothing really right about it, either. The concept is very much like Girls, but the execution lacks the HBO series' humor … Continue reading Bisexual Iranian Immigrant Comedy Not Great–But Appropriate
Pioneer Review: Deep Water, Shallow Story
C+ Writtern by Nikolaj Frobenius, Hans Gunnarsson, Cathinka Nicolaysen, Erik Skjoldbjærg, and Kathrine Valen Zeiner Directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg Early in this Norwegian thriller, two brothers—both highly-skilled deep-sea divers—have a talk. The one who’s a loving husband and father tells his bachelor brother that this will be his last dive; he wants to spend more … Continue reading Pioneer Review: Deep Water, Shallow Story
Approaching The End: Imagining Apocalypse in American Film
Film noir led to apocalyptic cinema. When human society has no clear moral boundaries, the end of the world is but a plot twist away. At least that's the argument that Peter Labuza sets out to prove in his new, very short book, Approaching The End: Imagining Apocalypse in American Film. I can't say that … Continue reading Approaching The End: Imagining Apocalypse in American Film
Wild: Hiking, Health, and Heroin
A drama Written by Nick Hornby, from a memoir by Cheryl Strayed Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée Judging from this adaptation of her memoirs, Cheryl Strayed led a pretty wild life, until she walked into the real wild and got herself together. I don't know or care whether the film is accurate to Strayed's memoirs or … Continue reading Wild: Hiking, Health, and Heroin
Physics Saturday: Interstellar and The Theory of Everything
I saw two very different movies on Saturday, but both were about physics. Well, sort of. Physics and fiction don't blend together unless you can work in suspense, romance, tragedy, horrible diseases, and special effects. Although one movie is a big, expensive Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, and the other a British Indiewood biopic, their titles are … Continue reading Physics Saturday: Interstellar and The Theory of Everything
Birdman, Dear White People, & Citizenfour–new movies I’ve seen recently
Here are three new films I caught in theaters recently. A- Birdman Michael Keaton plays a has-been movie star hoping to gain artistic respectability by writing, directing, and performing in a Broadway play. But as he goes through rehearsals and previews, everything seems to be spinning out of control. What's more, he either has supernatural … Continue reading Birdman, Dear White People, & Citizenfour–new movies I’ve seen recently
The Better Angels
B+ Historical drama Written and directed by A.J. Edwards About half way through A.J. Edwards' gentle exploration of our 16th president (and my namesake), it occurred to me that a native-born American who hadn't paid much attention in history class might not realize that the film was about Abraham Lincoln. Names are seldom spoken, and … Continue reading The Better Angels
The Mediocre Fascist: The Conformist comes to Blu-ray
Fascist states don't really need that many committed fascists. But they do need ambitious, unscrupulous, and cowardly people. In Bernardo Bertolucci's brilliant character study of a man lacking character, we see political murder as an act of a bureaucrat. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Marcello Clerici as a confused, emotionally cut-off cog in the wheel of Mussolini's … Continue reading The Mediocre Fascist: The Conformist comes to Blu-ray
Force Majeure: Vacation isn’t what it used to be
A- drama Written & directed by Ruben Östlund The carefully controlled, not-quite-natural outdoor experience of a fancy ski resort becomes a metaphor for the veneer of a troubled marriage in this Swedish drama set in the French alps. Tomas and Ebba (Johannes Kuhnke and Lisa Loven Kongsli) take their two young children on what is … Continue reading Force Majeure: Vacation isn’t what it used to be
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