The Avengers: Age of Ultron, though single-serving entertainment sure to delight the masses, is a clumsy effort to consolidate stories that prove irreconcilable. With the MCU amoeba-ing into larger, stranger…
This morning, the Seattle International Film Festival lifted the proverbial (and literal) curtain to unveil its impressive 2015 lineup. Arguably overstuffed to the point of popping, this year’s fest will feature an even 450 films including 193 feature length, 70 documentaries, 19 archival films, 164 short films and 4 secret films. Of those 450, 49...
Nick Kroll first showed up on our televisions as a puka-shell wearing caveman in Cavemen, ABC’s short-lived, ill-fated adaptation of the popular Geico commercial. (Preparing for this interview, I watched an episode and Kroll’s bone-dry comic sensibilities are almost fully formed already, and it was surprisingly funny and apparently (ironically) ahead of its time.) Shortly...
Don't let its multiple AACTA Award wins and nominations fool you, the only thing The Water Diviner can divine is a good siesta.
It’s been a few weeks since the last Weekly Review, as it tends to be but this week gets us back into the swing of things with a list of mostly new releases. Although I feel like I haven’t been to the theater in weeks (having only gone once last week) I had some reviews...
Alex Garland has been lurking through the film world since the turn of the century, trying on all kinds of hats on all kinds of projects. His career began somewhat inauspiciously when Danny Boyle turned Garland’s 1996 Thailand travelogue nightmare into a critically flunky Leonardo DiCaprio project (though I’ve always had a bit of a...
Director Levan Gabriadze works within some very risky restraints - like an orator with a ball gag - by limiting all onscreen action to the computer screen and the result…
You would think that the casting of such comedic icons would demand us to reinvent our perspective on the two high-profile jesters. That is just not the case. For a…
Brilliant tech work aligns with Garland's beautifully sour/smartly subversive writing/directing and Gleeson, Isaac and Vikander's low-broiling performances to create what can only be described as a neo sci-fi noir near-masterpiece.…
Much of the success of the performances though rest with Baumbach's writing. While We're Young being a direct follow-up to Frances Ha, Baumbach has expanded on existing themes of unchecked…