Screen
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...
Realism thwarted
Made with or without U.S. Department of Defense cooperation, fictional films about the American military favor narratives in which (mostly) men buck authority, risk their necks in bouts of jealous infighting and go the lone-wolf route in pursuit of the enemy. Act ...
We’ve always been this dirty
Not unlike the year 2016 in politics, writer/director Dee Rees’ adaptation of Hillary Jordan’s novel, Mudbound, starts off as a slow, plodding look at...
Geneticists and horror
Equal parts Species and The Savage is Loose, the eccentric and crafty new thriller Splice isn’t for audiences who require strong, noble rooting interests in their questing protagonists of science. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, neither of whom make it a habit to ...
Mental illness explored
Something really bad is coming, an impending apocalypse, and only Curtis (Michael Shannon) can see it. His mom was institutionalized with paranoid schizophrenia when he was 10, however, so are his dreams prophetic or is he starting to lose it? This is the plot of ...
Child’s tale come to life
Know how to give mild G-rated fare a little something special? Cast Sandra Oh as an elementary school teacher who enjoys her orderly ways and who regards the Ramona half of Ramona and Beezus, taken from the venerable Beverly Cleary children’s books, as more ...
No country for poor men
Like a slow, rumbling thrum, the inevitability of Hell or High Water’s final act patiently chugs at you. One of those rare, gritty, morally...
You got it, Bob
I started putting a bunch of dick jokes on Twitter the other day, and I just kept doing it because it was really annoying people,” says Bob Saget. “Well, I’m a 9-year-old boy. You tell me not to say something, and I’ll just say it...
What is this, a space race for snails?
Obviously, the most exciting part of retelling humanity’s mad dash to set foot on the moon is Ryan Gosling quietly rage blinking. First Man...
Camp Crystal Fake-Out
What’s funny is that writer Joss Whedon and writer/director Drew Goddard are going to get praised for how original The Cabin in the Woods is...