Screen
Forget the stars, aim for right here
You’re the star of where you are” is the message Cory McAbee wants to tell the world. “Give up your goals, stop reaching for the stars and look for the stars within [your] own mind...
Trial and terror
You only hear about a psychological experiment if it goes really, really well or really, really bad. Guess how a simulation of prison using 20-something college students as both guards and inmates went? Writer Tim Talbott’s script strays little from a grand ...
Cinema verboten
Between 1933 and 1945, Germany’s Third Reich produced 1,200 feature films, of which 300 were labeled propaganda by the Allies and banned from public screenings and distribution following the war. To this day, restrictions on 40 of these titles are still in place...
The power of discussion
The “road trip” might be the ultimate American movie trope — the vast expanse of the continental United States providing a vivid backdrop while the confines of a vehicle pressure-cook characters in the comedy and drama they need to discover the intricacies of ...
Sorry, Malaysian tourism industry!
No Escape feels like it was written by somebody who violently hates the entire Asian continent. Culled from every xenophobic stereotype, down to the eating of dogs, the film plays like a two-hour anti-tourism ad: “Malaysia, You’ll Probably Die Here.” Setting aside ...
Roundup of summer 2015
When it comes to cinema, there is no such thing as dilution. No matter how many times a franchise is rebooted, a classic remade or an individualistic work of art sequalized, cinema will always remain as singular and potent as those who make it...
Myopic biopic
Biopics are lies. Oh, don’t get me wrong, all storytelling is fundamentally fibbing. But it seems somehow more disingenuous to airbrush actual human histories, to select which warts to ignore and which redemptive moments to exaggerate. Documentaries exist for a ...
They hung him on a cross
On Sept. 10, 1991, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” hit the airwaves forever changing pop, punk, rap and rock while the cultural world embraced, assimilated and commoditized “Teen Spirit.” If record sales and critical acclaim have anything to say, then the message was clear...
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 ...
Imbued with poetry, hindered by commerce
Originally published in 1923, The Prophet by Lebanese-American author Kahlil Gibran, is one of the most successful and popular books of poetry every produced. Selling more than 100 million copies in more than 40 languages, The Prophet is a collection of 26 ...
