Screen
Just an old-fashioned love song
"Your wife’s got that gorgeous glow that comes with your first marriage,” a party guest quips to the oblivious husband. Yes, his face says...
Vacant lots
Writer/director Sofia Coppola has made a movie that says nothing about people with nothing interesting to offer who steal from famous people who do nothing to be famous. And unless you’re a talk-show conspiracy theorist, it’s kind of hard to get too worked up about ...
Fantastic furry fun in ‘Mr. Fox’
In a world of children’s films increasingly characterized by technological accomplishment and sophisticated rendering in lieu of good old-fashioned storytelling, it was a breath of fresh air to enjoy the stop-motion Fantastic Mr. Fox...
Up and Downey
Although traditionally necessary for filmmaking, the original Iron Man was rumored not to have had much of a real script, just an outline of key moments and the note “fill in gaps with Robert Downey Jr.’s swag.” Much to the chagrin of the Writers Guild of America, it...
When I paint my masterpiece
Consider the bus driver. Do you notice them as you board the Skip? Do you wonder what they see as the Dash rumbles down...
Magic needed
I really liked Fantasia (1940) as a kid and recall being amazed at how well the music and animation synchronized in one of the most trippy of the Disney animated films. The centerpiece of Fantasia was the Sorcerer’s Apprentice scene, where Mickey Mouse used magic ...
Comedians sleep standing up
A note for the admittedly small subset of folks who swoon at the storytelling magic of This American Life and tingle at the mere mention of Ira Glass’s name: Sleepwalk with Me is charming public radio entertainment channeled into cinemas. Watch out Hollywood ...
Some humor, a little sex and a whole lot of humanity
In the 1970s, she was one of the dominant, and most provocative, Italian filmmakers. From behind her trademark white-framed glasses, Lina Wertmüller saw the...
