MOVIE REVIEW
Valhalla Rising (2010)
IFC Films
“Bronson,” the last film from Danish writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn, told the story of Britain’s most notoriously violent criminal through frequent excursions into the character’s deranged subconscious. “Valhalla Rising,” Mr. Refn’s latest, feels like the sort of movie Charles Bronson might have made were he fascinated by Vikings.
MOVIE REVIEW
Life During Wartime (2010)
Francisco Román/IFC Films
Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime” is a ghost story. It’s not a horror flick, but various specters figuratively or literally haunt the lives of its characters: an absent father, the burdens of family and career, and, yes, a dead person’s disembodied spirit. The sequel to “Happiness,” “Life” revisits the three sisters from the controversial 1998 film. But Mr. Solondz here employs a brand new cast that bares no physical resemblance to the previous one, a strategy recalling the ever-evolving protagonist in “Palindromes.”
Roger Ebert recently graced Critic’s Notebook with his eminence and quoted our writer, Sarah Manvel, in his review of the documentary “45365.” Under most circumstances, this kind of exposure would be a major shot in the arm for any humble little website such as ours, where underemployed film critics are quietly plugging away for no money in hopes of slowly and steadily building an audience or landing the elusive paying gig.
Unfortunately, Mr. Ebert did not have nice things to say. He did not attribute the quote from Ms. Manvel’s review nor provide a link, but that did not spare her the public humiliation. It’s not exactly difficult to locate the original review with Google, and Mr. Ebert’s minions had little trouble finding us.
Continue reading “Roger Ebert vs. the Future of Film Criticism” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Inception (2010)
Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros. Pictures
Dimensions interweave; matter twists in physics-defying contortions; and entire worlds crumble as time stands nearly still in “Inception,” Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated, hugely ambitious summer daydream. Plunging headlong into the subconscious, the filmmaker’s “Dark Knight” follow-up offers a labyrinthine journey into the heart of the contrasts between what we are and what we perceive ourselves to be.
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Since the Edinburgh International Film Festival's move from August to June, the films and guests available in the early summer slot have fallen nicely for the headline writers, culminating in last year's double whammy of "Antichrist" and "The Hurt Locker." This year fate was less kind, and the absence of true talking points only emphasized that most of the higher profile films were days away from wide release — though some ("Get Low," "Winter's Bone") were excellent. There was more action down in the festival's low-budget laboratories; but there, the trend to instantly dismiss exactly the kind of films that resist instant dismissal was in full effect. With odd vibes at the top and bottom, the result was a festival with a mild identity crisis.
Continue reading “Edinburgh International Film Festival ’10: Notes From the Underground” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Lola (2010)
Swift Productions/Tribeca Film Festival
Two years ago I watched Brillante Mendoza's "Foster Child" at Edinburgh, an experience that could not have been more bracing if the director had turned up and slapped me in person. This year his "Lola" had a similar effect. Mr. Mendoza's welding of documentary staging and local color onto angry agitprop is a style which looks like no style at all — until the bruises start to rise. He is the master of the confrontational whisper.
MOVIE REVIEW
Winter's Bone (2010)
Sebastian Mlynarski/Roadside Attractions
Deep in the Ozarks, where it seems betrayal of your neighbor is the worst crime of all and most justice is natural justice, teenager Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) needs to find her missing father before her family and two young siblings are evicted from their home. Determined to discover what's happened to him, Ree starts asking pointed questions of her in-laws and won't take no for an answer.
MOVIE REVIEW
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
Kimberley French/Summit Entertainment
David Slade takes over “The Twilight Saga” directorial reigns for “Eclipse,” the third installment; and the “Hard Candy” filmmaker gives it his directorial all. Sprucing things up with an indie-rock infused soundtrack, grittier bone-crunching violence and several moody, naturalistic visual compositions, Mr. Slade demonstrates a firm belief in the narrative’s potential to rise above its simplistic, potboiler origins. Such faith must be commended, no matter how blind.
MOVIE REVIEW
The Extra Man (2010)
Magnolia Pictures
New York's Upper East Side is lit up similar to a pinball machine in "The Extra Man," the natural home of chancers, eccentrics, predators and fruitcakes of every flavor. Clearly part of some universe not quite our own, the place exerts a magnetic pull on the loosely wound, the kind of neighborhood where fantasist and occasional gigolo Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline) can roam free without being chased down the street by men in white coats.
MOVIE REVIEW
Get Low (2010)
Sam Emerson/Sony Pictures Classics
Robert Duvall dominates "Get Low" from the off, easing into the part of crusty codger Felix Bush like an old shoe and spiriting the film away from under the noses of several other very fine actors. Looking so weathered that even his whiskers seem exhausted, Mr. Duvall builds Felix from a symphony of emphysemic wheezes, creaking joints, muttered wisdom and withering scorn. Chances are he got paid for it, but that might not have been essential.
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