Timothy Semenza, Author at Critic Speak

Review: “No”

Timothy Semenza — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:00:31 +0000

Pablo Larraín, the writer/director of “No,” shyly introduced his work to the audience at last October’s New York Film Festival by mumbling a few thanks into the microphone and quickly taking a seat. Having seen the filmmaker’s prior two efforts, “Tony Manero” and “Post Mortem,” which make up a spiritual trilogy with “No,” I was […]

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Review: “The Details”

Timothy Semenza — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:24:24 +0000

Jacob Aaron Estes’ “The Details” has no idea what tone it wants to establish. Billed as “darkly comic,” the movie attempts to strike that distinctly Coen Brothers-esque balance between farcical humor and over-the-top violence. But Estes is nowhere near as artistically gifted and confident as the Coens and, by not committing exclusively to either style, […]

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Streaming Pick: “We Were Here” (2011)

Timothy Semenza — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:32:45 +0000

David Weissman and Bill Weber’s documentary “We Were Here” operates on two levels by providing both an overarching account of the 1980s San Francisco AIDS crisis and intimate portraits of five people who lived through it. The group of subjects, comprised of four men and a woman, offer a variety of perspectives: the guilt-ridden survivor, […]

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Review: “Flight”

Timothy Semenza — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 04:03:49 +0000

Historically, Robert Zemeckis’ dramas have worked by harnessing their thick characterizations and exaggerated situations to unabashedly play to the audience’s emotions. From Forrest Gump’s run across America to Chuck Noland’s bald-faced wailing at the loss of his beloved volleyball Wilson in “Cast Away,” Zemeckis’ finest work may be coated in Hollywood sheen, but it nonetheless […]

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Review: “Silent Hill: Revelation”

Timothy Semenza — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 22:13:40 +0000

The “Silent Hill” video game franchise is beloved primarily for its ability to instill dread in the player by pairing unsettling art direction and atmospheric music with character-driven narratives. In 2006, when director Christophe Gans adapted the series for the screen, he chucked the Japanese game developers’ multi-faceted storytelling approach out the window in favor […]

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Review: “Paranormal Activity 4”

Timothy Semenza — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 23:27:16 +0000

If one were to graph the quality of the “Paranormal Activity” movies, the result would look much like a sine wave. The first film kicked off the series with great promise, thanks to the high tension that it was able to elicit from only two people, a camera, and a long, dark hallway. Its sequel […]

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NYFF Review: “Flight”

Timothy Semenza — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 18:13:26 +0000

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NYFF Review: “The Dead Man and Being Happy”

Timothy Semenza — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 05:30:31 +0000

Few things are more irritating than a movie that’s full of itself, a characterization that undoubtedly applies to Javier Rebollo’s “The Dead Man and Being Happy.” Sympathetic lead performances and pretty Argentinian locations help alleviate the aggravation of the experience, but the film’s smug self-satisfaction with its own quirkiness is ultimately irredeemable. The titular “dead […]

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NYFF Review: “Tabu”

Timothy Semenza — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 22:35:19 +0000

Miguel Gomes’ “Tabu” is a conventional story of forbidden love presented in a visually dazzling package that took me a full act to start enjoying. The reason for my delayed gratification was the film’s unusual structure: it begins with an ultimately irrelevant framing story that distracts from the meat. But once “Tabu” reaches its core […]

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NYFF Review: “Leviathan”

Timothy Semenza — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:09:53 +0000

Films that traffic in the abstract can be difficult to objectively judge, because each viewer is either lured in by the style or they aren’t. “Leviathan” is one such film, so much so that I won’t even pretend to understand the viewpoint of those praising it. For the full 87 minute runtime, I tried to […]

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