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 Reviews
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)
Film Review: The Human Resources Manager (2010)
Road movies are a tricky business. There are few things in life that are quite as invigorating as uprooting yourself from the banal circumstances of “everyday” life and heading out to unexplored territory. Unfortunately, the process of converting this experience to a cinematic format is rarely successful. The Human Resources Manager is no exception to this trend,…Read more Film Review: The Human Resources Manager (2010)
Film Review: World War Z (2013)
In the recent adaptation of World War Z, Brad Pitt faces the most bloodless apocalypse ever seen on film. Violence is certainly depicted. Planes fall from the sky and entire cities are wiped off the map; yet we see little in the way of real human carnage. Even humanity's undead adversaries, who move with frenzied,…Read more Film Review: World War Z (2013)
Film Review: The Dark Knight Returns – Part I (2012)
Frank Miller’s 1986 mini-series, The Dark Knight Returns (DKR), is set in a dystopian future. Featuring an aging, alcoholic Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement to combat a rising tide of criminality, the series set off shock waves that are still being felt over two decades later. Often imitated yet rarely equaled, possible adaptations of DKR have been discussed for…Read more Film Review: The Dark Knight Returns – Part I (2012)
Film Review: Roll Out Cowboy (2010)
Balancing one’s creativity with one's finances is an arduous endeavor. Such is the case for the main subject of the new documentary Roll Out Cowboy, which is compassionately directed by Columbia College alum Elizabeth Lawrence. In Lawrence’s engaging film we follow a somewhat outrageous character named Chris Sand whose stage name is Sandman: The Rappin…Read more Film Review: Roll Out Cowboy (2010)
Film Review: The Man Who Laughs (1928)
If one is to have an association with The Man Who Laughs it is probably due to Conrad Veidt’s freakish appearance enduring in popular memory as one of the dominant visual images to inspire the appearance of Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s The Joker. Still, all pop-culture connections aside Paul Leni’s evocative film adaptation of…Read more Film Review: The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Film Review: Arbitrage (2012)
At one point in Nicholas Jarecki’s film Arbitrage Richard Gere’s hedge fund big wig, Robert Miller, is asked if he honestly thinks money is going to solve the problems he has created for himself, to which he responds, “What else is there?” The line is spoken with a beautiful air of genuine, nuanced incredulity and…Read more Film Review: Arbitrage (2012)
BluRay Review: Four Weddings and a Funeral
Published on Film Monthly in 2012 A young Hugh Grant, periodically sporting a pair of round-rimmed glasses and looking curiously similar to a certain bespectacled young wizard, is the focal point of director’s Mike Newell’s (the man behind the Goblet of Fire and Prince of Persia) endearing yet forgettable 1994 feature, Four Weddings and a…Read more BluRay Review: Four Weddings and a Funeral
Film Review: Batman and Robin (1997)
At one point in 1997′s Batman and Robin an enraged Mr. Freeze (curiously endowed with a thick Austrian accent) hilariously bellows at the Caped Crusader to “Freeze in Hell!” Now, this statement is notable due to its impractical silliness, but also for concisely channeling the sentiments that many movie-goers were feeling for this temporary franchise killer and the…Read more Film Review: Batman and Robin (1997)
Adam Mohrbacher 