Tag Archives: reviews

Closed Curtain (2014); directed by Jafar Panahi

A man enters a seaside villa and before doing anything else goes through every room, closing all the curtains. There are huge windows on every floor, looking out on the vast expanse of sea. There are a lot of curtains … Continue reading

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Review: Behaving Badly (2014)

Grim. My review is now up at Rogerebert.com.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Review: The Strange Little Cat (2014)

“The Strange Little Cat,” a debut feature by German director Ramon Zurcher, is such a strange little movie. I can’t stop thinking about it. My review is now up at Rogerebert.com.

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Review: Ida (2014); directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Ida is one of those miraculous films where the images on the screen are so startling, so unique, so themselves, that the visuals take on a whole subterranean level of meaning, coursing beneath the actual plot. The power of the … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments

Review: This Is the End (2013)

Hilarious. Thought-provoking. Self-aware. But also with an undercurrent of true worry, a gnawing and growing awareness of “How do we live a good life? How do we be good people?” It is truly concerned about these things. This Is the … Continue reading

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Review: Wish I Was Here (2014); directed by Zach Braff

There are many things in this world that make me angry. Zach Braff isn’t one of them. My review of his second film, Wish I Was Here, is now up at Rogerebert.com.

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Snowpiercer (2014); directed by Bong Joon Ho

In order to combat global warming, various nations on the planet decide to inject the atmosphere with a coolant. The film opens with a bright blue sky, and three planes careening by far above, leaving behind a white trail of … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

Boyhood (2014); directed by Richard Linklater

I was about to start off by saying “Movies like Boyhood…” and stopped myself. Because there are no other movies like Boyhood. There are other films about a boy coming of age, there are other films about a child becoming … Continue reading

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Review: Affluenza (2014)

Not good. My review is now up at Rogerebert.com.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Barbaric Genius (2013): Interview with Paul Duane and John Healy

In 1988, the British literary scene was rocked by the publication of London-Irishman John Healy’s extraordinary memoir about his life as a wino, The Grass Arena. It won the top prize in England that year for literary autobiography. It was … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Movies, writers | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments