Screen
On agents and agency
Melissa McCarthy is immensely talented, armed with a stunning repertoire of acting skills. So, of course, Hollywood sees her and claps its collective hands together, yelling “Make the funny lady fall down again!” Spy is writer/director (and frequent McCarthy ...
Extra, extra bad things
So I’m talking to a friend the other day, and he says “I don’t see why we need the news anymore if we have social media.” The minute I stopped beating him senseless whilst vomiting due to the sulfuric smell of stupidity, I pointed out that Twitter has yet to take ...
Winter camp
Your tolerance for writer/ director Gregg Araki’s White Bird in a Blizzard hinges on your appreciation (or lack thereof ) for campy content. If you were weaned on John Waters, you’ll gobble up every cheese-tastic second, from a horny housewife lusting towards her ...
Let’s not be gods
Midway through Ex Machina, writer/director Alex Garland’s taut thinker, super genius inventor Nathan (Oscar Isaac) tells human guinea pig Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) that the invention of artificial intelligence was always a matter of when, not if. Here’s a thought: ...
Featherweight flick
Southpaw is a boxing movie with, dare I say, far too much boxing in it. I realize that sounds strange, but director Antoine Fuqua’s new movie isn’t very interested in its extended training montages or improbable fight scenes — and that’s not entirely a dig. ...
Sodium eyewater
You know those feel-good documentaries that make your heart swell as you discover some unknown artist, overlooked genius or divine but unrecognized human accomplishment? The Salt of the Earth is not one of those. For about 95 of its 110 minutes, directors Wim Wenders...
