Reviews / Blu-ray Reviews
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The most interesting aspect of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is, in fact, the girl with the dragon tattoo. Hiding behind the aforementioned tattoo, her goth aesthetics, chain smoking, and ambisexuality, Lisbeth Salander...
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Close-Up
I’ve never seen anything like Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up, and I think it may exist outside of conventional criticism. The film is a mixture of documentary and narrative elements mixed together to form an enigmatic...
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Mystery Train
I’m sitting here at my desk, listening to a Roy Orbison stream on Pandora, attempting to prolong the intoxication of Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train. I’ve seen the film countless times, but Jarmusch’s bluesy, romantic...
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Hamlet (Royal Shakespeare Company)
I’m often asked about the state of the Hollywood Idea Machine, especially concerning the abundance of remakes. I tend not to argue that most remakes are merely a familiar carrot used to lure unsuspecting...
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M
The weight of writing about Fritz Lang’s hugely influential M is intimidating to say the least. The film, first released in Germany in 1931, was a bold vision marked by its uncompromising and graphic...
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White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights
I’m no music critic, so my reaction to the White Stripes is purely emotional. I’m a fan. I like their pretense, invention and theatricality. I like the marriage of Meg White’s steady drums and...
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The Informant!
I loved Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!. Usually I don’t like to start a review (especially one as short as this) with such a loud, subjective statement, but I just had to get that out....
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Ghost in the Shell 2.0
I’m going to split this review into sections of which the first will deal with Mamoru Oshii’s original film and, the second, the 2.0 update. The score chart to the left is indicative only...
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Gremlins
Gremlins: the film that taught us that not all rules are meant to be broken—especially those set forth by old Chinese guys who own curious curio shops. For those of you born post-1990, allow...
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
There are few filmmakers working today who understand the minutia of composition and its intimate relationship to narrative as David Fincher does. He paints with such elegant and seemingly effortless confidence. Even when his...