The 64th annual Emmy Awards were held last night in Los Angeles and, as expected, the big winners in the major categories were Showtime’s newcomer drama “Homeland” and ABC’s beloved returning comedy “Modern Family.” If you didn’t catch the show–and hopefully you didn’t, as it was a complete and utter snooze, with the exception of […]
List of 2012 Emmy winners Read More »
Contemporary political films, especially those made in the United States, tend to overindulge in on-the-nose partisan messaging. Director Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” and “Lions for Lambs,” for instance, housed admirable statements about the corrosion of American politics, but Redford undermined these with a zealot’s sledgehammer. This is why Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín’s more nuanced approach
Streaming Pick: “Tony Manero” (2008) Read More »
While the historical-fiction narrative of Daniel Lee’s “White Vengeance” may prove illuminating for Chinese viewers who are already familiar with the history of the Qin Dynasty, particularly the Hongmen Banquet event in 206 B.C., it’s safe to say that nearly every foreign viewer will be lost by the half-hour mark. Only the gist of the
Blu-Ray Review: “White Vengeance” Read More »
It was only a couple months ago that we learned that Richard Linklater, July Delpy, and Ethan Hawke were officially planning a follow-up to “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” and a couple weeks ago that we learned that the trio were scouting locations in Greece. Well, now comes news that they have not just started
Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke have already wrapped shooting on “Before Midnight” Read More »
Anyone who thinks Michael Bay makes the biggest, loudest movies on Earth should watch the new Hong Kong film “The Viral Factor,” which may not have had the budget for giant Transformers, but nonetheless puts Bay to shame in terms of the amount of sustained action. The movie lacks a single ounce of subtlety or
Blu-Ray Review: “The Viral Factor” Read More »
If you’re an adult, you probably haven’t yet heard of the Oogieloves — a Teletubbie-esque troupe of creature-things that star in a movie that opened in over 2,100 theaters yesterday. And if you hadn’t clicked onto this blog post, you probably never would have, either. The total opening day box office for “The Oogieloves in
As has been widely reported, the beloved action director Tony Scott committed suicide last week by jumping off of a bridge in Los Angeles. We here at Critic Speak thought that we would take a moment to share our favorite Scott films… Danny Baldwin – “Domino” (2005) It would be difficult to argue that Tony
Our favorite Tony Scott films Read More »
Stay tuned later today for more tributes to the life and work of Tony Scott from the rest of the Critic Speak team. It would be difficult to argue that Tony Scott’s “Domino” is his best work by any objective measure–it’s the kind of filmmaking that values messy passion over technical precision–but it’s my personal
Streaming Pick: “Domino” (2005) Read More »
The surprise is a lost art in contemporary cinema. Further, when new films actually manage to pull off unpredictable twists and turns–see Christopher Nolan’s “Memento”–they tend to sacrifice relatable characters to better service their plot tricks. Stanley Donen’s 1963 film “Charade,” on the other hand, is both unpredictable and emotionally resonant. The dynamic between the
Streaming Pick: “Charade” (1963) Read More »
It’s been a big season for Steven Spielberg fans. Not only does the director’s famed “Jaws” drop today on a beautifully restored Blu-Ray, but now comes news that perhaps his most beloved work of all-time, the Indiana Jones adventure “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” will play IMAX theaters on September 7 to celebrate/promote its own
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” returning to theaters… in IMAX! Read More »
