January 24, 2011: Gasland I watched Gasland as a pre-emptive Oscar pick, since it was on the short-list for the Best Documentary nominations, and the subject matter was of interest. A film about the widespread dangers of natural gas drilling in the US, the film is startling and I hope that its nomination will provide […]
January 22, 2011: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World I haven’t read the series of graphic novels upon which Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is based, but I had to see this film in order to understand the wildly mixed opinions about it. I found it to be an entertaining romp, but clearly not aimed at […]
January 21, 2011: TRON: Legacy I don’t know what made anyone decide that now was the time for a sequel to TRON, but it’s actually a fitting point in history to revisit the concepts explored by the original film. In the early 1980s society was struggling with the question of what great worlds could be […]
January 20, 2011: Blue Valentine How is it that a movie can have great buzz for months, and then once it goes into wide release and all the critical reviews come out, it gets three stars out of five from everyone? I complained about this phenomenon in my review of Somewhere, and Blue Valentine receives […]
January 13, 2011: True Grit (1969) Prior to seeing the new Coen brothers interpretation of True Grit, I wanted to watch this 1969 John Wayne version of the story. It was originally adapted from a novel, but I’m not yet at the point where I am prepared to devote the time to reading all novels […]
January 13, 2011: TRON In anticipation of technical Oscar nominations for the sequel, I decided to watch the original TRON film. Released in 1982, TRON tapped into the pulse of the day, when computer programming and video games were becoming more high-profile, and with Star Wars having legitimized geeky sci-fi action films and precipitated a […]
January 12, 2011: Exit Through the Gift Shop Exit Through the Gift Shop is a quirky documentary about the evolution of street art (sometimes seen as graffiti) over the past decade or so, primarily in Los Angeles. It has received good reviews on the festival circuit and is nominated for an Oscar in the Best […]
January 10, 2011: Somewhere We’re into that time of year when Oscar buzz is in the air, and the potential contenders are lining up and trying to position themselves for recognition. The funny thing is, there’s a lot of stark disagreement about whether any particular film may be brilliant or total crap, and Somewhere is […]
January 10, 2011: Barney’s Version My wife and I read Mordecai Richler’s book Barney’s Version this past fall, so she and I have been looking forward to seeing the film. While the tone of the film didn’t match the book in the way I was expecting, I think it did manage to capture the essence […]
January 10, 2011: Green Zone Put Matt Damon into a movie directed by Paul Greengrass, and even though it may not be called a Jason Bourne movie, that’s more or less what it is. Green Zone is a respectable but ultimately ineffective attempt to take the political story of how the US came to be […]