Review
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Venice '11 Review: Cronenberg's 'A Dangerous Method' An Insightful Look At Sexuality & The Mind
The recent career of David Cronenberg has been an interesting thing to watch. Having made his name with a very particular, icky brand of fetish-happy body horror, he hasn't dipped back into that well for a decade now, preferring instead to take his obsessions and use them to spice up what in other hands could be standard fare. And generally speaking, it has worked well: "Spider," "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises" all have much to recommend them, all peculiarly Cronenbergian, but each pushing in a slightly different direction. But now he's made what, on the surface at least, might seem to be his biggest departure to date: a period...
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Review: 'Shark Night 3D' A Joyless, Trashy Thriller
When Rogue Pictures announced that their forthcoming horror film “Shark Night 3D” was going to be rated PG-13 instead of R, they shepherded it into theaters with two strikes already against it. Especially following the go-for-broke gratuitousness of Alexandre Aja’s “Piranha 3D,” but really in the wake of every single killer fish movie since the original “Jaws,” to deny an audience gory dismemberments or even just gloriously pointless nudity feels, well, irresponsible. But with “Snakes on a Plane” director David R. Ellis behind the camera, “Shark Night 3D” is a full-fledged, bottom-of-the-ninth strikeout, a trashy, stupid, joyless, and overlon...
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Venice '11 Review: 'Carnage' Is Fun While It Lasts, But Insubstantial & Anonymous
Compared to his last film, Roman Polanski's "Carnage" must have been a breeze. Not that the shoot for "The Ghost Writer" was "Fitzcarraldo" or anything, but, famously, the project hit a major speed bump in September 2009, while the film was in post-production, when the helmer was arrested in Zurich,...
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Review: ‘Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life' Is An Ambitious Biopic That's Disappointingly Incomplete
The following is a reprint of our review from the Quebec release of the film in 2010. "Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life" is now in limited release.
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Review: 'A Good Old Fashioned Orgy' Is A Good New-Fashioned Slob Comedy
The following is a reprint of our review from the Tribeca Film Festival.
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Venice '11 Review: Madonna's 'W.E.' Is A Royal Disaster
Just as news of an actor excitedly announcing that they've got a definitely-not-a-vanity-project album on the way is generally greeted with a reaction somewhere between mockery and outright terror, news of a musician moving into the movies is rarely a good thing. But all in all, pop megastar Madonna...
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Review: 'Bunraku' Wants To Be 'Sin City' But Is More Like 'The Spirit'
When you go to see any movie, particularly a genre picture, you are required to make a handshake deal with the film regarding the world it's trying to establish. If the picture can successfully convince you that, yes, this is a world of superheroes who are now retired, or this is a planet where no o...
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Venice '11 Review: 'The Ides Of March' Is A Gripping Return To Form For Director George Clooney
Even more so than usual, 2012 should be a particularly fascinating election year. On the one hand, you've got the incumbent, President Barack Obama, a man elected on the promise of hope and conciliation, and a man who's failed to live up to the sky-high expectations placed on him. On the other, you have a band of Republican candidates who have, so far, failed to look anything like contenders, instead seemingly competing in a national crazy-off. We're a long, long way off from finding out the victor, but to get things underway, one of the most politically engaged actor-directors around has opened the Venice Film Festival with a look behind the...
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Review: 'Detective Dee' Underwhelms As A Boilerplate Wuxia/Noir Mix
The press notes for “Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" refer to the prolific director Tsui Hark as a “genre master”. Complimentary at first glance, the phrase takes on shades of damning praise when it comes to 'Detective Dee,' an overstuffed period mystery with all the trappings of a wuxia epic. Wuxia, originally a literary tradition that came to silver screen prominence in the early 20th century, blossomed in the 80s and 90s, with celebrated directors like Zhang Yimou delivering films that captivated a world audience. It’s fair to say Ang Lee is responsible for awakening mainstream American interest in the genre with 2000’s...
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Review: 'Love Exposure' Is Four Hours Of Madhouse Kink
Sion Sono‘s “Love Exposure” is a film that, upon its conclusion, feels as if you’ve spanned the globe to tell its narrative. So broad is its scope -- addressing topics like religion, incest and murder -- that the film never once seems like its staying in one place, so hyperactive and eager to stimul...
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