Posts filed under 'Reviews'
Director Anton Corbjin has enough visual talent to make a film set in drab, waterlogged Macclesfield, England (post-punk biopic Control) one of the great cinematographic achievements of the past decade. You can imagine, then, what he does with Southern Italy. In strictly pictorial terms, Corbjin’s new thriller “The American” is jaw-dropping from first frame to last, capturing a gorgeous hilltop village that sits above the clouds in the lower valley. What’s even more impressive is that the film’s imagery never feels like shallow postcard fodder. Corbjin coaxs all sorts of unexpected emotion out of categorically beautiful territory - paranoia from an overhead shot of strangely twisting roads, methodical determination from geometric architecture, loneliness out of a lush riverbed.
Continue Reading September 6th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Universal Law of Cinema #436 states that the most satisfying part of any film including in its cast the actor Bill Murray will be the actor Bill Murray. In this regard, the debut film from director Aaron Schneider, Get Low (trailer), does not disappoint (Universal Law of Cinema #437 states, on the other hand, that serious films shall endeavor to avoid any titular resemblance to noted singles by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, but I digress).
Continue Reading August 30th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Are you ready to rumble (in a manufactured marketing-ploy kind of way)? Studio wonks have been spinning this weekend’s release of chick flick “Eat Pray Love” and 80s-action-hero-reunion “The Expendables” into an epic battle of the sexes faster than you can say “limp attempt to conjure publicity out of nothingness”.
Continue Reading August 15th, 2010
Raj Ranade
In the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term “black-and-white” referred not only to the colors possible on screen but to the moral complexity that was permissible. The Hays Code, the censorship guidelines that ruled Hollywood from 1930 to 1968, decreed that “No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it,” and so cinematic criminals were always brought to justice, illicit lust invariably led to catastrophe, and even depicting a married couple sharing a bed was frowned upon.
Unsurprisingly, some of the most enduring films of that era belonged to a genre that adhered to the letter of the law but took a Tommy gun to its spirit.
Continue Reading August 11th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Let’s be honest: Martin Scorsese has been playing it safe for the past decade. “Gangs of New York,” “The Aviator” and “The Departed” are good-to-great films that exemplify Scorsese’s mastery of visual storytelling, but you can feel the man pandering to mainstream audience tastes in a way that wasn’t true of masterpieces like “Raging Bull” or “Taxi Driver,” which remain shocking viewing experiences even today. Perhaps his Oscar for “The Departed” has set him free - “Shutter Island” is the weirdest film Scorsese’s made since “Bringing Out the Dead” in 1999, and if it isn’t entirely successful, it’s exhilarating more often than not.
Continue Reading February 25th, 2010
Raj Ranade
[Best of 2009 entries will continue tomorrow]
There’s a creeping dread that permeates Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”. It’s a spectral terror that manifests itself powerfully through acts of violence but does not lay claim to any identifiable source. It’s one hell of a disturbing feeling, and it’s the kind of emotion that Haneke has become quite skillful at evoking throughout his career.
Continue Reading February 18th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Michael Hoffman’s “The Last Station” is a campy, over-the-top comic melodrama, which certainly isn’t what you’d expect from a film about Leo Tolstoy’s last years. I suppose this might bother those familiar with Tolstoy’s work; what I know of him comes mainly from that “Seinfeld” episode in which the true title of “War and Peace” is revealed to be “War: What Is It Good For?” In any case, this particular philistine had a rather good time at the movies, and, as long as you don’t expect high intellectualism in your films about literary giants, I suspect that you might as well.
Continue Reading February 12th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Some of my favorite films of all time work by creating fascinating characters, placing them in a setting and then basically just going with the flow, giving precedence to meanderings, longueurs and tangential incident. Scott Cooper’s debut feature film “Crazy Heart” is so good at this that it’s a shame it bothers with frivolities like “plot” and “dramatic structure.”
Continue Reading February 5th, 2010
Raj Ranade
Ah, the holidays - a time for seeing family, friends, “Avatar” and “Avatar” again. Though I’m fond of James Cameron’s imbecilic masterpiece, I’m sure I’m not the only one tired of talking about it, so I’ll be reviewing two other big holiday releases instead. I can’t, however, resist mentioning my favorite line about “Avatar” from film critic Ali Arikan. In reference to the film’s stunning visuals and stunningly bad writing, Arikan aptly noted, “You don’t go to Hooters for the food.”
Continue Reading January 11th, 2010
Raj Ranade
The great film critic Manny Farber once noted the difference between “white elephant art” - pretentious would-be masterpieces that we now call Oscar-bait - and “termite art” - films that joyfully burrow into their own set of details and concerns, awards and accolades be damned. Understandably, the latter sort of film is often more enjoyable than the former, and the difference is well-illustrated by the Thanksgiving releases of “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”
Continue Reading December 17th, 2009
Raj Ranade
Previous Posts