Teenage Comedy/Drama Written by Eric J. Adams, David Lee Miller, Jordan J. Miller, Gabriel Sunday Directed by David Lee Miller As far as I know, the San Fran International Film Festival will be your only chance to see this thoughtful, sad, funny, entertaining, and thoroughly unique motion picture. Catch it if you can. A video- … Continue reading SFIFF Preview 3: My Suicide
Category: Reviews
SFIFF Preview, Part II
These two films aren't scheduled for theatrical release after the San Francisco International Film Festival, so if you don't catch them at the Festival, you may never get another chance. But with one of them, that's not a bad thing. For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, Kabuki, Sunday, May 3, … Continue reading SFIFF Preview, Part II
The Edge of Love
Period Drama Written by Sharman MacDonald Directed by John Maybury The Edge of Love is very lovely to look at, and not only because three of its four stars are exceptionally good-looking. Director John Maybury has clearly fallen in love with the look of war-time London (or his imaginary equivalent), and gives us every bit … Continue reading The Edge of Love
Waltz With Bashir
Animated documentary sounds like an oxymoron, but I'm not sure what else to call Waltz With Bashir. The bulk of the film consists of actual interviews that writer/director Ari Folman had with other veterans of Israel's 1982Lebanon war, as he tries to reconstruct his own traumatic memories of the front line. But the interviews, and the … Continue reading Waltz With Bashir
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Woody Allen has Little Children disease, and I'm not talking about his sex life. My wife and I finally caught his latest film last night, and like the Kate Winslet sex-in-suburbia drama from a few years back, it suffers from way too much narration. An experienced and arguably great filmmaker like Allen should know that when you … Continue reading Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Wendy and Lucy
Low-key drama Written by Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt, from Raymond' story "Train Choir" Directed by Kelly Reichardt This is a film for our time. We're all hurting. We're all scared. We’re all wondering when the axe will fall and how long we'll stay afloat when it does. (Pardon the mixed metaphor.) Our economic situation, … Continue reading Wendy and Lucy
Revolutionary Road and the New Shattuck
My wife and I saw Revolutionary Road at the newly refurbished Shattuck tonight. I’ll start with the film, then tell you about the theater. After a romantic prologue where an attractive couple meet and fall for each other, Revolutionary Road plunges you into a severely unhappy marriage--all the worse because the couple clearly still love … Continue reading Revolutionary Road and the New Shattuck
Oscar Bait Roudup
I've seen a few of this year's Oscar Bait films. Here's what I thought of them, from best to worst. Milk: Yep, I'm always a sucker for a historical epic, especially one set in a time and place that I can remember. Sprawling without ever being boring, and inspiring without getting preachy. I've always known … Continue reading Oscar Bait Roudup
Let the Right One In
Horror Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, from his own novel Directed by Tomas Alfredson Last night I saw what may be the best vampire movie I've ever seen. Better than Horror of Dracula, Interview with a Vampire, and Lost Boys; better even than Nosferatu. It's called Let the Right One In. I'm really glad I … Continue reading Let the Right One In
Delwende
drama Written and directed by S. Pierre Yameogo Children mysteriously die in an African village, and the elders suspect witchcraft. But the ancient traditions they use to find the witch appear to have more to do with local politics than detective work or even magic. And so Napoko, the wife of an elder and the … Continue reading Delwende
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