When a movie as painful to endure as “Identity Thief” comes along, it’s tempting, as a critic, to seek vengeance against the filmmakers by exploding with hyperbole. I would undoubtedly feel a bit better about having been cinematically tortured for two hours if I could unload an outraged “This film epitomizes everything that’s wrong with contemporary […]
Review: “Identity Thief” Read More »
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
Rest assured: this is the only Oscar predictions post you’ll see on Critic Speak all year. While the rest of the Internet film community becomes obsessed with statuettes come November, writing almost exclusively about precursors and frontrunners and “Oscar buzz” for the next four months, we pride ourselves on keeping the focus on real criticism.
Our Oscar Picks and Predictions Read More »
And the nominees are… “Kings Point” (Sari Gilman, USA) – It’s been a strong year for movies about what happens to us when we grow old, between “Amour,” the live-action short “Henry,” and this documentary short in which director Sari Gilman follows five residents of the eponymous Florida retirement community where her grandmother lived. It’s
Review: The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013 – Documentary Read More »
And the nominees are… “Adam and Dog” (Minkyu Lee, USA) – You’d never guess that this, the most aesthetically beautiful of this year’s nominees, was animated entirely in Photoshop, as the images have the appearance of a stunning blend of oil paints and watercolors. The world created in “Adam and Dog”—a painterly, ‘Scope version of
Review: The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013 – Animation Read More »
Hello and welcome back to Box Office Beat, the column in which I predict the upcoming weekend’s box office results. Most moviegoers’ eyes will be on the Oscars this weekend, so there isn’t much happening in the way of new wide releases; just two films open and both would be very lucky to come near
Box Office Beat: Weekend of February 22 Read More »
And the nominees are… “Death of a Shadow” (Tom Van Avermaet, Belgium) — The 20-minute length doesn’t allow for much explanation of the mechanics behind the intriguing science-fiction-like concept, which involves the collection of the shadows of the dying, so we basically just accept it and focus on the characters’ emotions. These ring true through
Review: The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013 – Live Action Read More »
Bruce Willis is an actor whose effort is visibly proportional to his enthusiasm for the material. When he believes in the work, it shows; consider “Pulp Fiction,” “12 Monkeys,” “The Sixth Sense,” last year’s “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Looper,” and, of course, the first four “Die Hard” films. Now, think back to some of his lesser
Review: “A Good Day to Die Hard” Read More »
The best argument for “Escape from Planet Earth,” the latest children’s animated film to roll off Hollywood’s assembly line, is that it’s a mostly painless experience for adults. That’s really all a parent can ask for if they want to take their young kids to the movies more than the two or three times a
Review: “Escape from Planet Earth” Read More »
While the name Nicholas Sparks and the word “masterpiece” will never be uttered in the same breath, there are two films (“The Notebook” and “A Walk to Remember”) that prove that the schmaltzy romance novelist’s paperbacks can be adapted into modestly affecting melodramas for the screen with the right talent. Well, some of his paperbacks,
Review: “Safe Haven” Read More »
