The Artist (2011, Hazanavicius)
[An abridged version of this review was published previously at Image.] It happens every January — movie ads fill up with boasts about awards they’ve won. In a few days, those boasts will start to include Oscar nominations. And The Artist is currently the most boastful of all. Filmmaker Michael Hazanavicius’s tribute to Hollywood’s silent film era is stirring up enthusiasm... Read More
Some Favorite Films of 2011
One problem I have always had with year-end list making is that it forces me to break up the little thematic and emotional connections that develop between films, directors, and genres over the course of a year of new cinema and rank films according to a different metric. Rather than a list, I would like to somehow begin producing a map of my year in cinema. Maybe next year. But... Read More
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie, 2011)
There are a number of different directions one can go when reviewing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. We could protest (again) that Robert Downey, Junior is no Sherlock Holmes. He does not look like Holmes or act like Holmes. On the other hand, neither does any other portrayer of Sherlock Holmes, for in a sense it must be admitted that there is no Sherlock Holmes. Or, rather,... Read More
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Bird, 2011)
It is a pleasure to announce that director Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is worth every penny of today’s high ticket price. In this moviegoer’s opinion, it’s easily the finest installment in an otherwise mediocre franchise. Moreover, it’s leaves X-Men: First Class, Captain America, and the rest of 2011′s glorified Saturday... Read More
Certified Copy: Kiarostami and the Real Thing
FLATLAND IS A 19TH CENTURY inter-dimensional head-trip, still popular with math and computer geeks, a fantasy of a two-dimensional being whose mind is blown by his encounters with other dimensions. (Among other things, he discovers that the elite of his own world knew about the existence of a third-dimension, but hid that knowledge from the masses.) The novel was a favorite... Read More
Tyrannosaur (Considine, 2011)
If you flinch while you watch Tyrannosaur, that is the right response. For an angry person, a flinch is a form of communication. It is a sign that their grievance, nameless as it may be, has been heard and felt by someone else. There isn’t anything therapeutic about the chain of events that results in a flinch; the truly angry person simply can’t help but externalize all those... Read More
The Muppets (Bobin, 2011)
Once upon a time — 1979, to be exact — along a freeway in the southwest, a car carrying the Muppets broke down. And their pursuit of a dream (“to make millions of people happy!”) came to a crashing halt. So they built a campfire beside their broken-down car. Kermit the Frog walked into the darkness. Rowlf the Dog sadly played a harmonica. And Fozzie Bear pointed... Read More
Inni (Morisset, 2011)
You could call Sigur Rós’ Inni a “concert film” but that’s a bit of a misnomer. Yes, the 74 minute movie consists primarily of footage culled from the band’s performances at London’s Alexandra Palace in 2008, interspersed with snippets of the band’s early performances, awkward interviews, and various antics. However, unlike many concert... Read More
Accept no substitutes: With The Tree of Life, it’s blu-ray or the big screen.
I’ve been asked to write a few words about the blu-ray release of The Tree of Life. I’m glad to do so, because the blu-ray is outstanding. But I suspect some of my friends are wishing I would stop writing so profusely about this film. If American theaters would screen even a few films as interesting as this one, I’ll happily write about them. I’m waiting. My... Read More
The Arbor (Barnard, 2011)
For the record: don’t read this. If you are not familiar with the story of the Dunbars, it is best to just let this one unfold as you watch it. Whether it is the smoking Twin Towers, smoldering Branch Davidian compound, or the Zapruder film, we have all had our faces rubbed in some televised trauma so repeatedly that we begin to lose contact with it as something awful. Over time,... Read More
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