Reviews / Reviews
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The Last Rites of Ransom Pride
It’s amateur hour in the Old West. The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is a headache of a movie crafted by Red Bull-addled filmmakers who fast-forwarded through a weekend’s worth of Peckinpah films before...
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Leaves of Grass
The quality and intelligence of Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass didn’t surprise me. Nelson has written and directed several interesting films and Edward Norton usually picks his roles carefully. What surprised me about...
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The Secret of Kells
I was raised surrounded by books and art. My mother, a professor of religious studies, tried to expose me to anything and everything she could. But even before I could talk, I showed a...
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Let Me In
My respect for cinema and my understanding that not every film can be prejudged from advertising and/or dubious Internet buzz demands that I at least attempt to look at each film as an individual...
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Bored to Death: The Complete First Season
HBO’s Bored to Death establishes itself with a rather flimsy premise: a writer struggling to begin his second novel is dumped by his longtime girlfriend and, after literally stumbling upon an old Raymond Chandler...
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The Darjeeling Limited
Before I begin my review proper, I’d like to take a moment to discuss Hotel Chevalier, the short film that (sometimes) preceded The Darjeeling Limited during its theatrical run. In various interviews, writer/director Wes...
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Boogie Woogie
As someone who has little to no opinion on modern art (that’s the giant cucumber-Lego-thing sitting in front of the university library, right?), the idea of a satire aimed at sending-up those who occupy...
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Letters to Juliet
There’s a scene in this awful Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy (I can’t recall which) where Lopez’s character is nearly killed by a runaway dumpster when her expensive, designer shoes get caught in the grating...
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Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl
At 101 years old, Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira has been making films since the 1930s. One can’t help but have respect for such a career, but, sadly, that’s about as much as I...
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The Exploding Girl
The film opens on Ivy (Zoe Kazan) sleeping in the back of a car on her way home to New York City for spring break. This first shot, with the reflections racing across her...