Skip It The Film: Several optimistic possibilities rush through one’s mind while watching the trailer for 47 Ronin , Carl Rinsch’s costly feature-length debut. Could it be visually interesting in the vein of Asia’s native martial-arts fantasies? Or, will it offer enough swordsmanship and wizardry within it quasi-historical Japanese context to become something of a guilty pleasure
Recommended Largely forgotten in the decades following its 1974 release, Martin Ritt’s Conrack is one of the better “inspiring teacher” movies in a sub-genre full of entries. It certainly wasn’t the first of its kind: earlier productions like Goodbye Mr
Recommended The Movie: The first film directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet is an intentionally odd film that follows the exploits of a French professor (Jacques Doniol-Valcroze) in Turkey whose unhappy existence is brightened by an encounter with a stunningly beautiful, albeit very mysterious, woman (Fran oise Brion).
Rent It The Movie: Chinese Zodiac (released in its homeland as CZ12 ), a 2012 feature directed by, co-written by and starring the great Jackie Chan, was a highly anticipated picture among the action star’s legions of fans because it was touted as a follow up of sorts to the two popular Armor Of God films. The movie begins with a fantastic sequence in which a man named Hawk (Chan) escapes from a …
Highly Recommended The Movie: Based on the novel by Scott Heim, Gregg Araki’s 2004 film Mysterious Skin takes place in rural Kansas where we meet two eight year old boys, Neil McCormack (Chase Ellison) and Brian Lackey (George Webster). When Brian was at a baseball game, he blacked out
DVD Talk Collector Series In 10 Words or Less Cheever’s short masterpiece becomes a cult classic Reviewer’s Bias* Loves: Cult films, psychological dramas, stories of behind-the-scenes chaos Likes: John Cheever, Burt Lancaster Dislikes: Tales of tragedy, WASP-y troubles Hates: Artists being abused by businessmen The Movie The first time I really connected with something I was assigned to read for …
Highly Recommended The Movie: On the heels of creating A Separation , the movie that won Iran’s first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, writer-director Asghar Farhadi has returned with The Past , a film that echoes the mood and tone of A Separation (and his prior work) while shifting the setting from Iran to the outskirts of Paris.
Highly Recommended The Movie: Abel Ferrara’s 1981 rape/revenge film Ms .45 (also known as Angel Of Vengeance ) follows the story of a young woman named Thana (played by Zoe Lund credited here as Zoe Tamerlis, who was obviously quite young when the picture was made), a pretty young woman who works in the fashion district of Manhattan. Thana is incredibly shy and doesn’t talk, she communicates …
Recommended In 10 Words or Less More from sketch comedy’s newest sensations Reviewer’s Bias* Loves: Sketch comedy Likes: Key & Peele Dislikes: Race-based comedy, MADtv Hates: Sketch comedy studio segments The Story So Far After earning some fans as part of the cast of FOX’ SNL competitor MADtv , Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key made their way around the comedy world with scene-stealing parts …
DVD Talk Collector Series Akira Kurosawa set out to make The Hidden Fortress ( Kakushi toride no san akunin or “Three Bad Men of the Hidden Fortress,” 1958) as “100% Entertainment.” In that he succeeds completely. The movie, later the basis for the first Star Wars (1977), to the point where Hidden Fortress star Toshiro Mifune was even considered for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, remains as …