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
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)
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)
“A Man Can Run Out of Things to Live For” – On the Ethos of Superhero Film Love Interests
Wolverine has always been a tormented soul, a social pariah damned by his stunted aging and propensity for berserker rage. He is a character with meat on his bones and certainly one of the richer creations in the X-Men pantheon. Of course, much of that complexity has never been effectively addressed in the various film…Read more “A Man Can Run Out of Things to Live For” – On the Ethos of Superhero Film Love Interests
Rooting the Future Jargon of Clockworks and Dark Knights: Slang in Society
The dystopian universes of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, and Frank Miller's seminal 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, are marked by many thematic similarities. They both focus on pervasive corruption in society's political and social institutions. Additionally, both stories feature the distinctive presence of various subcultures, marked by not only an habitual…Read more Rooting the Future Jargon of Clockworks and Dark Knights: Slang in Society
Film Review: Nine (2009)
As this decade comes to a close it is interesting to look back upon some of the more significant developments that have occurred inside the film industry. Over the past few years we have experienced the rise of the Apatow comedy, the superhero film genre has infested the marketplace, and the musical regained its commercial footing, starting in 2001 with Baz…Read more Film Review: Nine (2009)
Film Review: Sweet Sixteen (2002)
Adolescence has rarely looked bleaker than in Ken Loach‘s grimy, grim coming of age film from 2002, the ironically titled Sweet Sixteen. Bizarrely described on its Netflix casing as a “…heartwarming…” story, Loach’s film is a powerful albeit somewhat conventional portrait of blighted lives, hopelessness and the allure of criminality in a crumbling, washed-out Scotland.…Read more Film Review: Sweet Sixteen (2002)
Film Review: Bruce Almighty (2003)
One only needs to briefly scan Jim Carrey's filmography to understand his malleability. From the loveable albeit idiotic yo-yo’s of Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura to the searing, nuanced performances delivered in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show, Jim Carrey has proven that he can do it all. So why does…Read more Film Review: Bruce Almighty (2003)
“Do You Want Me to Wear Your Face?” – On Gratuity, Manipulation and Mathew McConaughey in Killer Joe
William Friedkin rediscovers his electric and pulpy 70′s roots in Killer Joe – which stands as one of the best American films so far produced this year. Joe’s success as a film revolves around one of its few scenes of actual violence, the infamous fellatio/deep-fried chicken scene which easily takes the prize as one of the…Read more “Do You Want Me to Wear Your Face?” – On Gratuity, Manipulation and Mathew McConaughey in Killer Joe
Adam Mohrbacher 