Of all the issues I had with A Walk in the Woods (our review) – the telling of Bill Bryson’s failure to complete the Appalachian Trail – Nick Nolte was not amongst them. In fact, he was the solitary beacon of hope shining through a film that otherwise stank of mediocrity. After the screening, the...
To put a pin in the beauty of The End of the Tour is a philosophical venture potentially as challenging as James Ponsoldt‘s latest accomplishment. Detailing a three-day exchange between Rolling Stones journalist David Lipsky and rock star author David Foster Wallace, Ponsoldt’s film is talky and emotionally whirling, thick with dry-mouthed moments and cemented...
Robert Redford‘s adaptation of Bill Bryson‘s popular 1998 memoir A Walk In the Woods is an unremarkable journey with a short sprinkling of low-key chuckles and a heaving dose of schmaltzy sentiment. As Redford’s travel companion, co-star Nick Nolte manages to give this low-percolating buddy comedy/road-movie-on-foot at least some minor footing, but its not enough...
Step Up's Guzman is awful in the leading man's shoes, all kinds of ham and cheese in a role that might have even thrived in the hands of a Dan…
As of publication, I’ve clocked in 242 2014 films. It’s a fitting number, one that isn’t totally, completely, batshit crazy. Ok, maybe it is. Of those 242, I have culled a list of 100 films that’re more than worthy of your attention. This handcrafted numerical scroller has been designed with the kind of meticulous craft...
This week has been absolutely insane what with playing catch-up to all the big awards films I missed on my holiday, cracking out a Top Ten of 2014 List, a 50 Most Anticipated Films of 2015 list, Oscar Nominations Predictions, Oscar Nominations Reactions, Seattle Critics Film Awards and drafting reviews of Michael Mann‘s horrible Blackhat, the...
Socially awkward black comedy with occasionally explosive moments of understated humor, The Strongest Man is Kenny Riches‘ follow-up to Must Come Down and his first big festival debut. His surgically shrewd examination of two nobodies stewing in the melting pot of Miami presents a deep and thoughtful metaphysical exploration of life as alien experience with...
Striking at the potent middle ground where sentiment and humor meet, The Wedding Ringer caps off with an emotionally-rending third act that, although predictable, features some of Hart's most genuine…
In a move that inspires little other than a deep sigh, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science unleashed the 2015 Oscar nominees to a thud. With snubs that ran the category gambit – David Fincher‘s Gone Girl was almost entirely ignored, Dan Gilroy’s transcendent Nightcrawler received a single nomination (Best Original Screenplay), Ava...
Though the third act fails to get off the ground - literally and figuratively - in much of the same ways that the first two do, the accordant motif of…