Save Me (2011, Lena Waithe)
Save Me is the story of a kid (Jaheem Toombs) whose house burned down and the rest of his family died and he goes to ask the man who saved him (Sam Bologna) why he saved him and the man doesn’t tell...
View ArticleThe Raid (2011, Gareth Evans), the international version
For the first forty-five minutes or so, The Raid is able to keep going on the idea lead Iko Uwais is going to be the most kick ass fighter in the movie. There a handful of short expository scenes...
View ArticleThe Cabin in the Woods (2011, Drew Goddard)
I didn’t have much hope for Cabin in the Woods; though, I mean, director and co-writer Drew Goddard… he’s gone on to stuff. Good stuff. Right? But if I’d known it was written in three days—it shows—and...
View ArticleRun Like Crazy, Run Like Hell (2011)
Run Like Crazy, Run Like Hell is a divinely unromantic crime thriller. It’s got all sorts of romanticized parts and pieces, but creator Jacques Tardi (adapting a Jean-Patrick Manchette) always finds a...
View ArticleMuch Ado About Nothing (2011, Josie Rourke and Robert Delamere)
The best thing about Much Ado About Nothing, except the dialogue, is Delamere’s direction. Not the stage direction, Rourke did that job, but Delamere’s direction of this recording. There’s some ho-hum...
View ArticleScream 4 (2011, Wes Craven)
Oh, no, Scream 4 is Wes Craven’s last movie. At multiple times throughout, I remember thinking, “at least this isn’t Wes Craven’s last movie.” Not sure what I thought his last movie would have been,...
View ArticleThe Decoy Bride (2011, Sheree Folkson)
According to the IMDb trivia page, The Decoy Bride only had thirty-five percent the budget it needed for the original version of the screenplay, which—percentage-wise—is a default fail. Of course, it...
View ArticleBlack Mirror (2011) s01e01 – The National Anthem
I spent all of The National Anthem waiting for someone—anyone—to turn to the camera and say, “David William Donald Cameron.” Hell, they could’ve done an animated Peppa Pig saying it. But "Black Mirror"...
View ArticleBlack Mirror (2011) s01e02 – Fifteen Million Merits
I’m understanding why the first episode of “Black Mirror” did a painful Lars von Trier namedrop… because the show’s just Lars von Trier-lite. This episode eventually involves a young woman being...
View ArticleBlack Mirror (2011) s01e03 – The Entire History of You
Not to get too Roman DeBeers, but The Entire History of You takes place in a universe where they create a cyborg technology to record your memories but never figure out how to get text-to-speech...
View ArticleDeadball (2011, Yamaguchi Yudai)
No doubt, Deadball is a strange one. And not just because thirty-six year-old Sakaguchi Tak is playing a seventeen year-old and actress Hoshino Mari is playing his sixteen year-old male sidekick. I’m...
View ArticlePuncture (2011, Adam Kassen and Mark Kassen)
Puncture is a crusading attorney picture with a couple twists. First, there’s no trial and, specifically, no eureka moment in the trial. Second, the crusading attorney in question–played by Chris...
View ArticleFinal Deadball (2011)
Final Deadball is a strange little thing. At first I thought it would be incomprehensible without seeing Deadball–Final is a short spin-off semi-sequel for one of the supporting cast in Deadball–but...
View ArticlePaul Williams Still Alive (2011, Stephen Kessler)
The title, Paul Williams Still Alive, might be considered a spoiler if anyone except writer-director Kessler was sure Paul Williams wasn’t alive. The film chronicles Kessler’s rediscovery of Paul...
View ArticleJesus Was a Commie (2011, Terence Ziegler and Matthew Modine)
A self-reflective video essay can’t be rare these days, not with the Internet. Jesus Was a Commie is a little different though. It’s not an amateur recording on a cellphone, it’s Matthew Modine walking...
View ArticleAnimal Love (2011, Mollie Jones)
Animal Love is a future story. Selma Blair and Jeremy Davies meet through an anonymous hookup service–writer-director Jones implies most of the ground situation, with ads standing in for an explanation...
View ArticleDetachment (2011, Tony Kaye)
Detachment is not a message film. Kaye gives it a pseudo-documentary feel and does presents definite thesis about the public education in the United States. Except Detachment isn’t really about that...
View ArticleTick Tock (2011, Ien Chi)
Tick Tock runs about five minutes–not quite though–and it does so backwards. For most of the short, lead Morgan Ayres is running backwards across campus and through time. Director Chi has some overly...
View ArticleThe Birds of Anger (2011, Gregg Bishop)
Gregg Bishop’s direction impresses in The Birds of Anger, so does George Feucht’s photography and Todd Jeffery’s production design… it’s just a shame Bishop never impresses as a writer. Anger is both a...
View ArticleThe Gathering Squall (2011, Hannah Fidell)
The Gathering Squall has two problems, one complicated, one simple. The first problem has to do with putting Joyce Carol Oates’s name up front. Storm is based on one of her stories and if a Joyce Carol...
View ArticleHorrible Bosses (2011, Seth Gordon), the extended cut
It would have been nice if one of the three credited screenwriter of Horrible Bosses thought enough to write characters for the protagonists. Instead, the script–and director Gordon–rely on the “charm”...
View ArticleFrankenstein (2011, Danny Boyle and Tim Van Someren), the first version
Maybe the National Theatre Live just recorded a cruddy night for the Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature performance of Frankenstein. Maybe there was some immediate reason that night to explain why...
View ArticleFrankenstein (2011, Danny Boyle and Tim Van Someren), the second version
Maybe Danny Boyle isn’t the right guy to direct a stage play of Frankenstein. When he goes to close-ups–this Frankenstein being a filmed performance, with a lot of overhead shots and close-ups to make...
View ArticleMoneyball (2011, Bennett Miller)
Moneyball is the traditional American sports movie with all the excitement sucked out of the accomplishment. The excitement isn’t gone because of the story–about how the Oakland A’s applied a...
View ArticleImmortals (2011, Tarsem Singh)
The best thing about Immortals is probably Stephen Dorff. He gives the most consistent performance and has something akin to a reasonable character arc. No one else in the film has that courtesy. The...
View ArticlePerfect Sense (2011, David Mackenzie)
Perfect Sense goes out of its way to be an atypical disaster movie. Director Mackenzie and writer Kim Fupz Aakeson’s only significant acknowledgement of genre standards is having one of the...
View ArticleFast Five (2011, Justin Lin), the extended version
It’s almost embarrassing how well Fast Five is made. Director Lin can’t do two things–which might be important for the film if the story mattered at all–he can’t direct heist sequences and he can’t...
View ArticleTake Shelter (2011, Jeff Nichols)
Take Shelter is relentless; sort of an anti-Field of Dreams. Michael Shannon is a husband and father, respectable, employed member of a somewhat rural community. There’s not tons of money (wife Jessica...
View ArticleNewlyweds (2011, Edward Burns)
Newlyweds is an exceptional disappointment. Not really because of the concept–upper upper middle class New Yorker whining–or the execution–Burns has his actors speak into the camera, the characters...
View ArticleSuper 8 (2011, J.J. Abrams)
Sometimes special effects are just a little too much, especially with CGI composites letting director Abrams set so much of Super 8 in gigantic action sequences. The film’s about a bunch of tweens in...
View ArticleHaywire (2011, Steven Soderbergh)
Haywire’s plotting is meticulous and exquisite. And entirely a budgetary constraint. It’s a globe trotting, action-packed spy thriller with lots of name stars. The action in the globe trotted areas,...
View ArticleSource Code (2011, Duncan Jones)
Source Code is very much MacGuffin as movie. Numerous plot details exist solely to justify (and qualify) certain creative decisions; the film takes a bunch of familiar and somewhat familiar—depending...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....