Screen
reel to reel | Week of May 17, 2012
4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH In a large apartment high above the city lives a couple. They’re in love. She’s a painter, he’s a successful actor. Just a normal afternoon — except that this isn’t a normal afternoon, for them or anyone else. Because tomorrow, at 4:44 a.m., ...
Poor 2013: Films in the coming year
Listen, 2013, you look cool. You really do, with your new Superman movie and lack of Twilight...
‘Lantern’ not illuminating
Just when I thought that the summer was going to be defined by great films, I watched Green Lantern. Based on a storyline that’s more suited for Saturday morning cartoons than a cinematic production, the film had the awkward feel of a children’s made-for-TV ...
Bizarre tale from the future
Real Steel, a tale of a boy and his metallic 8-foot man-pet, may well drill past its own tin-plated inanities and strike gold, or oil, or something. My kid wants to see it; therefore I think it’ll be a hit...
Reel to reel | Week of July 25, 2013
20 Feet From Stardom Director Morgan Neville shines a spotlight on the untold true story of the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres American Graffiti A group of friends about to head to ...
Get Fassbent
So the whole time, Michael Fassbender wears this giant, papier-mache-style head and mumble-sings gibberish lyrics about things like snags in the carpet while other people play instruments they created out of things like toothbrushes. Welcome to Frank, a movie that is...
Juarez: What is it good for?
Nobody show Donald Trump Sicario! Already willing to xenophobically cast ignorant shade on entire groups of people, director Denis Villeneuve and writer Taylor Sheridan’s film reads like Captain Floppy-head’s personal vision of what all of Mexico is like. If his ...
Cold War sizzle
Presumably, a reboot or remake is done to capitalize on the good will and brand recognition of an intellectual property. Do fanboys of the 1960s TV show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. exist? Does anyone remember anything about it, other than it sporting a weird acronym for ...
The bacon of blockbusters
Hands down, my favorite discussion in the wake of Furious 7 doing to the box office what Vin Diesel does to elocution (which is to say, stomping it to oblivion): “Do we really need another Fast and Furious movie?” No. No, we do not. We also didn’t need to land on the...
Leni Riefen-stalling
On the one hand, any film subtitled “Part 1” is a naked cash grab. On the other hand, shut up and take my money, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1...
