“The Martian,” when it succeeds, does so despite itself. It is a survival-in-space movie almost entirely free of tension, its tone set always to comic relief, its grand imagination and serious plot almost completely ruined by its own sarcasm. The film stars Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut in dire straights. After the crew …
This week on the Critic Speak Podcast, James and I tear into the narrative incomprehensibility and clunky leftism of Neil Blomkamp and Matt Damon’s “Elysium,” we accept “We’re the Millers” because it contains more laughs than any other “comedy” this year, we split on Larry David’s HBO Movie “Clear History,” and we review the new …
This week on the Critic Speak Podcast, James and I are joined by screenwriter Jeremy Milks to review new theatrical releases “Fast & Furious 6” and “The Hangover Part III,” plus a couple of Steven Soderbergh films now available for home viewing, “Behind the Candelabra” (on HBO) and “Side Effects” (on Blu-Ray, DVD, and VOD). …
One moment of quiet solitude stands out amongst all the kinetic action sequences and globetrotting theatrics that have defined the Jason Bourne trilogy up to this point: a man’s lifeless body floats in the ocean, captured in low angle by a submerged camera and backlit by brilliant moonlight. It’s a shot that represents the fragility …
After years of drama, viewers will finally get to watch Kenneth Lonergan’s much-discussed and little-seen Margaret, just the way the filmmaker intended. Lonergan notoriously sparred with studio Fox Searchlight over creative differences, causing the film’s release to be dealyed for five years. Searchlight ended up forcing Lonergan to release a 2-1/2 hour cut, abbreviated from …
