Honorable Mentions: “Argo” – Ben Affleck continues his career resurgence in front of and behind the camera with the year’s best crowd-pleaser. Centering on the true story of how the C.I.A. extracted several Americans from Tehran during the Iran Hostage Crisis posing as a film crew, “Argo” manages to be an affectionate satire of Hollywood […]
James Frazier’s Top 10 Films of 2012 Read More »
Despite a lackluster crop of summer blockbusters—“The Dark Knight Rises,” in particular, was a colossal disappointment—2012 turned out to be a very good year at the movies. Two weeks ago, with several key films left to see, I began actively wishing that I would be disappointed by my remaining viewings because I didn’t want to
Danny Baldwin’s Top 10 Films of 2012 Read More »
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching numerous Chinese historical dramas on Blu-Ray this past year, it’s that Chinese moviegoers must know a lot more about their country’s history than Americans do ours. With little exposition, these films plunge the viewer into complicated situations where prior knowledge is essential to finding one’s bearings. As
Blu-Ray Review: “The Assassins” Read More »
“Doomsday Book” is an anthology film comprised of three shorts from two preeminent Korean directors, one of whom Western audiences are familiar with (Ji-woon Kim, who made the cult favorites “The Good, The Bad and the Weird” and “I Saw the Devil”) and another who they’ll now want to know more about (Pil-Sung Yim). Yim’s
Blu-Ray Review: “Doomsday Book” Read More »
Certain literary works, especially those that traffic in the fantastical, are best left on the page because they cannot be brought to cinematic life in a manner that remains true to their original spirit. Presumably, this is the case with Qing Dynasty author Pu Songling’s “Erotic Ghost Story,” a beloved work in Chinese culture, but
Blu-Ray Review: “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” Read More »
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,
Streaming Pick: “We Were Here” (2011) Read More »
“Good luck,” warned Jack Turner as he introduced “Compliance,” Craig Zobel’s squirmy new film, to a sold-out crowd at the Downer Theatre. Turner, a producer working on Zobel’s next project, reminded filmgoers at the Milwaukee Film Festival that “Compliance” provoked walkouts and charges of misanthropy at Sundance. Nervous energy rippled through the rows, but the
Notes from the 2012 Milwaukee Film Festival Read More »
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
NYFF Review: “The Dead Man and Being Happy” Read More »
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
NYFF Review: “Tabu” Read More »
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
NYFF Review: “Leviathan” Read More »
