Screen
‘The Messenger’ digs into a different side of the Army
America is an interesting country. Full of contradictions, hopes, failures and, every now and then, surprises. The nation is complex, to say the very least. Perhaps one of the clearest representations of these complexities is the war in Iraq...
‘Friends are the family you choose’
Stories of how movies get made are as varied as the movies themselves. For Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, two first-time writer/directors, the story...
‘Hangover’ hangover
For some movies, seeming funny is enough. The Hangover Part II only has to show up to succeed. At once pushy and lazy, the sequel follows the 2009 smash, which has become the most lucrative R-rated comedy in history. Isn’t that depressing? I find that depressing...
‘Would you like to play a game?’
They were friends in college, but it’s been 10 years since the whole group got together. Poor choices and hurt feelings came between them....
One-two punch
A nerve-racking noir from Australia, The Square is accompanied by a nine-minute curtain-raiser, a short film called “Spider,” from the same director, Nash Edgerton. The less you know about “Spider” the better. I’ll say this much: There may be no more effective sucker...
To God, there is no zero
They called them “B-Movies,” genre films (westerns, noir, horror, sci-fi, etc.) made on shoestring budgets with leads played by actors, not stars, and directors who were journeymen, not auteurs. The 1950s were their heyday and they played great on a rainy Saturday ...
Ten short films about morality
Famed Polish writer/director Krzysztof Kieslowski already had a handful of feature films and documentaries under his belt when his writing partner, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, gave...
Getting lazy about slackers
The Art of Getting By is a screen romance that echoes its title: It gets by. Barely. It’s another wan tale of an anti-social teen who finds himself irresistible to the sweetest, prettiest girl in school. But the film has flashes of wit and some interesting teen ...
