Posts filed under 'Miscellaneous'
The opening credits of Solitary Man are set to a cover of the song “Solitary Man” by Johnny Cash, which is the kind of ominous decision that suggest many further on-the-nose groaners are on the way (and yes, he is dressed all in black). The trailer certainly doesn’t help matters – it introduces Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas) as a once-successful family man turned impoverished loathsome lothario and points to a movie that will go through the typically trite rumba of reconciliation.
Continue Reading August 24th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Critics praising Jacques Audiard’s French crime film “A Prophet” have compared it to everything from Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” to Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather.” But the film’s closest spiritual cousin might actually be rapper M.I.A.’s hit single “Paper Planes.”
Continue Reading March 26th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Did the Oscars actually get things right this year? Well, no, of course not, though they’re closer than most years. The three best American films of the year (”The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds” and “A Serious Man”) were all nominated for Best Picture, as was the year’s best foreign film (”A Prophet”). Of course, most of the other nominations went to middlebrow crap and a film version of a Lisa Frank folder that made $2 billion. Here are a few alternate awards to make up for those deserving films that Oscar missed.
Continue Reading March 10th, 2010
Raj Ranade
With the movie-babble of Oscar season fast approaching, I decided to cover a different - and arguably less predictable - medium for our “Best Of” feature: the music video. After all, there is something unique about the music video, which is perhaps the only medium where avant-garde innovation and stylistic daring are actually encouraged for a mass-market product. While videos no longer receive the massive exposure they did in the ’90s, they are still a breeding ground for some of the most exciting feature-film directors working today: This year, “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer joined luminaries like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and David Fincher on the list of music video-turned-film directors. The raw talent on display in the best of this year’s videos will surely propel more directors along this same path. Here are some of my favorite music videos of 2009.
Continue Reading December 26th, 2009
Raj Ranade