Walker: Criterion Collection
February 11, 2008
Walker (1987) is an unconventional biopic that effectively burned any remaining bridges Alex Cox had with Hollywood. He took a modest amount of studio money and made a film about William Walker, an opportunistic American who invaded Nicaragua and became...
Margot at the Wedding
February 8, 2008
With The Squid and the Whale (2005), filmmaker Noah Baumbach reinvented himself by finally discarding the comparisons to Woody Allen that followed his early films (Kicking & Screaming, Mr. Jealousy) and produced a more nuanced, mature film with acerbic...
King of California
February 5, 2008
Hoping to replicate the overwhelming positive critical response he received for his performance in Wonder Boys (2000), Michael Douglas plays another quirky outsider in King of California (2007). Despite being produced by Alexander Payne (Sideways), the...
Sex and Breakfast
January 31, 2008
Sex and Breakfast (2007) is about two twentysomething couples going through the usual relationship problems. Miles Brandman’s film examines how these couples communicate (and also how they fail to do so) we each other. Ellis (Becker) and Renee (Dushku)...
The Hunting Party
January 25, 2008
The Hunting Party (2007) harkens back to a trend in the 1980s of films about journalists in war-torn Third World countries: Under Fire (1983), The Killing Fields (1984), and Salvador (1986).These films featured flawed reporters putting their lives on...
Zodiac: Director’s Cut
January 18, 2008
After the technically accomplished but ultimately hollow thriller Panic Room (2002), director David Fincher returns to familiar subject matter with Zodiac (2007), a dramatization of the murders perpetuated by the infamous serial killer known as Zodiac...
Eastern Promises
January 14, 2008
Ever since his big budget remake of The Fly (1986), David Cronenberg has flirted with mainstream success. Known early on in his career as a provocative and original horror/science fiction filmmaker, he began to dabble in other genres with his adaptation...
My So-Called Life: The Complete Series
December 18, 2007
When My So-Called Life debuted on television in 1994, it was seen as a smart alternative to mindless teen pap like Beverly Hills 90210. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know anyone like the “teens” (just how old were the actors anyway?) on...
Paris, Je T’aime
December 18, 2007
The short film, much like the short story, is an artform unto itself. It takes a certain set of skills as a storyteller to be able to tell a tale succinctly. People who make commercials have even less time. Unfortunately, outside of television stations...
Drunken Angel: Criterion Collection
December 18, 2007
Drunken Angel (1948) was Akira Kurosawa’s seventh film and was, according to his autobiography, a desire “to take a scalpel and dissect the Yakuza.” These Japanese gangsters were rampant in post-World War II Japan and with this film Kurosawa attempts...
