Screen
Guerrilla Film School: ‘Monsieur Hire’
If you’ve been missing
CWA’s annual Ebert Interruptus and the pleasure of a good film conversation,
then head down to Denver’s Smiley Branch Library on Dec....
White people nearly died
The 2004 tsunami that struck Eastern Asia was the sixth deadliest “act of God” in recorded history and quieted just fewer than 300,000 lives. The first major motion picture to tackle the subject, The Impossible, is about a group of white folks who get injured and ...
From a second-rate Bette Davis to a first-rate auteur
They say the future of film is female. It is. But so is the past. Maybe
that’s not evident upon first glance — certainly not...
Overdue disaster
Writer-director Todd Phillips understands comedy and comedic structure. He’s no stranger to the possibilities of the cinematic road trip...
Not far enough
There’s an unexpected wistfulness, a bittersweet undercurrent to Going the Distance that could not have been in the script. This romantic comedy co-starring Drew Barrymore and longtime beau Justin Long was finished just as the real life couple was splitting up. For ...
Great expectations
In 1850, Charles Dickens published his eighth novel, an autobiography of sorts, and his proclaimed favorite: The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of...
Company bust
A single spontaneous moment pops up in the otherwise obsessively well-ordered ensemble drama The Company Men, written and directed by ER and West Wing alum John Wells. It’s a quick shot in a hotel room tryst of Maria Bello bopping back into frame, unexpectedly, ...
The filmmaker too tough to die
Few filmmakers are as devoted to cinema as Alex Cox. Since his debut in 1984, Cox has made movies for the studios, for BBC’s...
Once upon a time in Iran
Somewhere in Turkey, a man and a woman obtain a foraged passport. The passport is for her, and once the man receives his, he...
Tame, lame video game
Glam it up all you want: Ender’s Game is about a kid playing a high-stakes video game. And before Fred Savage-fueled the visions of The Wizard go Super- Mario-dancing in your head, you should know this features absolutely no Power Glove love...
Anarchy in the U.K.
The year is 1708 and Britain is at war with France. Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) is ill and prefers to spend her days hidden...
Not genius, but still good
The most startling shot in Paranormal Activity 3 is something even the film’s determined unbelievers would concede to be damnably effective...
