Behind Elijah Wood's angelic looks and the "good guy" persona seen throughout films like the Lord of the Rings and Flipper there has always been a darkness. Of course Wood has ripped into his demonic side before, most notably with his scene-stealing performance in Sin City as the vicious serial killer Kevin. Yet, that was…Read more Film Review: Maniac (2012)
Film Review: She’s All That (1999)
The paradigm governing the teen film shifted profoundly at some point in the last decade. The bizarre, stupefying fantasy lands commonplace in the genre 15-20 years ago have been dismissed, with million-dollar mansions being less frequently commandeered by teenagers for their private parties. There also isn't the same rigid hierarchy, where groups like the jocks continually…Read more Film Review: She’s All That (1999)
You Have to Lose Yourself in People: On the Anti-porn Agenda and Myopic Gaze of Don Jon
Joesph Gordon Levitt is an enormously accomplished actor, that much seems certain. He is natural and assured whether he is appearing in the monstrous epics of Christopher Nolan or in small indies, such as Brick or Mysterious Skin. His new film and directorial debut Don Jon is similarly confident, parsing the different ways that one's…Read more You Have to Lose Yourself in People: On the Anti-porn Agenda and Myopic Gaze of Don Jon
Film Review: Gravity (2013)
A heartbreaking fact about the past seven years of cinema has been the deep void left by Alfonso Cauron, who had last surfaced with one of the best films of 2006, Children of Men. Cauron finally returned to the silver screen this year is with another massive cinematic vehicle and has received an inordinate amount…Read more Film Review: Gravity (2013)
Film Review: Prisoners (2013)
Prisoners is set in a economically depressed small-town suffering from barely hidden villainy. It's a chilly, nihilistic film, standing out even in a year filled with pessimism. Most of this you've seen before and most of it (particularly the ending) feels a tad preposterous. Additionally, the film falters because it can't decide on how best…Read more Film Review: Prisoners (2013)
We Can’t Stop: On Cyrus, Spears, Aguilera and the Forgetful Nature of Our Cultural Consciousness
When one compares Miley Cyrus with those who've come before her, or places her in the context of modern-day pop-music, then the national revulsion following her performance at the VMA's (or any of her recent behavior for that matter) suddenly becomes difficult to understand. The collective outcry has been so vociferous, so incredulous, that you…Read more We Can’t Stop: On Cyrus, Spears, Aguilera and the Forgetful Nature of Our Cultural Consciousness
Film Review: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
The Walt Disney Corporation went through hell in the immediate years leading up to the Disney Renaissance, which lasted from 1989′s The Little Mermaid to 1999′s Tarzan. When the release of The Black Cauldron in 1985 proved to be critically and commercially traumatic, the studio took a hard look at itself and its future with animated…Read more Film Review: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
Film Review: Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Almost nine years have come and gone since that fateful Oscar night, when a craggy, faded movie star named Jack Nicholson cracked open one of those inimitable envelopes and fell back, shocked, gasping with disbelief that a movie nobody really liked had won the biggest prize in movies. “CRASH!” the man gasped, much to the jubilation of…Read more Film Review: Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Film Review: Breaking Dawn – Part II (2012)
Bill Condon is a long way from Gods and Monsters and Kinsey – the critically acclaimed, powerfully acted and thematically complicated pair of bio-pics that he made in the beginning of the 2000′s. Following 2006′s Dreamgirls, the agonizingly drawn out stage-musical adaptation, where Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar by magically convincing the world that she…Read more Film Review: Breaking Dawn – Part II (2012)
A Letter to Joe Soucheray aka Jumping Joe
About two weeks ago the infamous Joe Soucheray of the Pioneer Press wrote a repulsive article, which you can read here. I wanted to respond to him directly, but strangely his email doesn't seem to work. I sent in an abridged version of the letter to the editor of the Pioneer Press and I decided…Read more A Letter to Joe Soucheray aka Jumping Joe
Adam Mohrbacher 