Cinema Mishmash

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If one of the independent film organizations had an award for the cast who most allowed themselves to look bad on film, there is no question but that the award would go to Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. (And yes, the length of the film’s official title is annoying.) The festival centerpiece [...]

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Aside from being a kind and gracious soul (as displayed again at his appearance tonight at the film’s North American debut at the Chicago International Film Festival), John Woo is a talented filmmaker. He is well known for the visual flourish he brings to action sequences, which is tirelessly put to use is Red Cliff, [...]

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The opening sequence of Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely is transcendent, pure cinema. The moment it ended (with a cut to a close-up in a dingy Paris office), I was hopeful to spend the next 110 minutes experiencing an overlooked gem of a film.
The remainder of the first third of the film maintained my hope. Diego [...]

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Hearing clapping at the end of a film is unusual these days (in most American cinemas, anyway, outside of special screenings with actors or filmmakers in attendance). Hearing clapping at the end of a film screening in my home theater is more unusual. That kind of expression seems a little silly, especially when the “audience” [...]

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Valkyrie tells the true story of Nazi army  Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) and the many men and women who formed an underground resistance movement against Hitler during World War II – from within the German armed forces.  Von Stauffenberg was the key figure in what was one of several attempts to assassinate Hitler, [...]

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Now that Quentin Tarrantino is getting attention (which he so hates) for his yet-to-be-released bloody World War II revisionist tale about a band of Jewish assassins (Inglourious Basterds), there is something even more striking about the fact that Edward Zwick’s Definance is based on a true story.  A couple of ruffian brothers lead an inconceivably large Jewish [...]

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Based in large part upon the success of Batman Begins and Casino Royale (and, some have argued, the large studio’s desire to get extra mileage our of their established franchises during tough economic times) Hollywood seems to have a recent obsession with origins stories. So with trepidation I, along with millions of others, went to seek out [...]

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As the mother-credited saying goes, if you don’t have anything good to say, then say nothing at all. Of course that would eliminate a great deal of film criticism. Taking a favorite form of mine, the short film thematic anthology, and making me scratch my head and grit my teeth, A Decade of Love was an [...]

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The script for Synecdoche, New York could have been written by the love child conceived of a time-bending one night stand between the Wachowski brothers, right after having created The Matrix, and Woody Allen at the height of his neurotic New York phase. But instead it was written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, a man who is easily one [...]

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Japanese director Kon Ichikawa died last February at age 92 and after directing nearly 90 films. The Burmese Harp is the first of two films (followed by Fires on the Plain) which tackles the post-war Japanese ethos. In this one, a Japanese unit in Burma must submit to the allied forces after Japan officially surrenders. The [...]

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Every once in a while a light-hearted romantic comedy comes along which fulfills all of the expectations of the genre yet manages to do just a little bit more. Here Michael Cera plays Nick, a variation of his signature lovable geek, but this time he is coming to terms with the fact that the shallow, [...]

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