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Reviews: August 2007 Archives
"Exiled"
By Matt Singer on 08/27/2007
By Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Exiled," Magnolia Pictures, 2007] Watching "Exiled," you get the sense that director Johnnie To believes that old expression about a picture being worth a thousand words. The film is about a group of old friends, gangsters who grew apart and who are now thrown back together by chance. To hints at what drove the five men in separate directions, but he lets the audience infer most of the backstory from the juxtaposition of two photos: one new and one from years earlier, when the men were still boys. To, like a lot of action... MORE »
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"Exiled"
By Matt Singer on 08/27/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Exiled," Magnolia Pictures, 2007] Watching "Exiled," you get the sense that director Johnnie To believes that old expression about a picture being worth a thousand words. The film is about a group of old friends, gangsters who grew apart and who are now thrown back together by chance. To hints at what drove the five men in separate directions, but he lets the audience infer most of the backstory from the juxtaposition of two photos: one new and one from years earlier, when the men were still boys. To, like a lot of action... MORE »
"Delirious"
By Matt Singer on 08/13/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: Michael Pitt and Steve Buscemi in "Delirious," Peace Arch Releasing, 2007] In "Delirious," stars Michael Pitt and Steve Buscemi explore the mystique of the pop culture icon. It's a subject both actors have tackled before: Pitt as Gus Van Sant's version of Kurt Cobain in his beautiful "Last Days," and Buscemi very recently in his film "Interview" with Sienna Miller. These talented men are well within their comfort zone and, working from a script from director Tom DiCillo, they don't give us a great deal we haven't seen from them before. Buscemi plays Les... MORE »
"Delirious"
By Matt Singer on 08/13/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: Michael Pitt and Steve Buscemi in "Delirious," Peace Arch Releasing, 2007] In "Delirious," stars Michael Pitt and Steve Buscemi explore the mystique of the pop culture icon. It's a subject both actors have tackled before: Pitt as Gus Van Sant's version of Kurt Cobain in his beautiful "Last Days," and Buscemi very recently in his film "Interview" with Sienna Miller. These talented men are well within their comfort zone and, working from a script from director Tom DiCillo, they don't give us a great deal we haven't seen from them before. Buscemi plays Les... MORE »
"The King of Kong"
By Matt Singer on 08/13/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: Steve Wiebe in "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," Picturehouse, 2007] "Video games aren't meant to be fun," intones one of the subjects of the riveting new documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters." This is utter nonsense, but not to the man speaking it, who believe it completely. To these guys who devote their lives to classic arcade games, the pursuit isn't recreation; it's validation. Their self-images are wrapped up in these oversized cabinets, and they take them very seriously. Which, of course, makes what they do and the... MORE »
"The King of Kong"
By Matt Singer on 08/13/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: Steve Wiebe in "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," Picturehouse, 2007] "Video games aren't meant to be fun," intones one of the subjects of the riveting new documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters." This is utter nonsense, but not to the man speaking it, who believe it completely. To these guys who devote their lives to classic arcade games, the pursuit isn't recreation; it's validation. Their self-images are wrapped up in these oversized cabinets, and they take them very seriously. Which, of course, makes what they do and the... MORE »
"Rocket Science"
By Matt Singer on 08/06/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Rocket Science," Picturehouse Entertainment, 2007] "Rocket Science," like director Jeffrey Blitz's first non-fiction debut "Spellbound," creeps up on you, getting more and more effective as it goes along. In both films, Blitz has a knack for creating (or in the case of his documentary, finding and presenting) young characters we really care for, and then sending them, and us, into desperate, gripping situations. These are movies you feel, right down to your toes. "Spellbound" followed several finalists in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee; "Rocket Science" is about a bunch of high school debaters,... MORE »
"Rocket Science"
By Matt Singer on 08/06/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Rocket Science," Picturehouse Entertainment, 2007] "Rocket Science," like director Jeffrey Blitz's first non-fiction debut "Spellbound," creeps up on you, getting more and more effective as it goes along. In both films, Blitz has a knack for creating (or in the case of his documentary, finding and presenting) young characters we really care for, and then sending them, and us, into desperate, gripping situations. These are movies you feel, right down to your toes. "Spellbound" followed several finalists in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee; "Rocket Science" is about a bunch of high school debaters,... MORE »
