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Reviews: October 2007 Archives
"American Gangster"
By Matt Singer on 10/29/2007
In his heyday, Frank Lucas was making a million dollars a day, selling unusually pure heroin he got factory-direct, as it were, smuggled from Asian opium fields inside the coffins of Vietnam War casualties. That true story, the one that serves as the basis for Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," is amazing. But Scott's film is not. Mark Jacobson's article about Lucas, "The Return of Superfly," is still available for free online here, and is worth a read if you're interested in the story and the film. In Jacobson's piece, Lucas narrates his own life, with all the flair (and, no... MORE »
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"American Gangster"
By Matt Singer on 10/29/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsIn his heyday, Frank Lucas was making a million dollars a day, selling unusually pure heroin he got factory-direct, as it were, smuggled from Asian opium fields inside the coffins of Vietnam War casualties. That true story, the one that serves as the basis for Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," is amazing. But Scott's film is not. Mark Jacobson's article about Lucas, "The Return of Superfly," is still available for free online here, and is worth a read if you're interested in the story and the film. In Jacobson's piece, Lucas narrates his own life, with all the flair (and, no... MORE »
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
By Matt Singer on 10/22/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," ThinkFilm, 2007] Sidney Lumet's new film begs the question: which is more important, family or money? Everyone in his pitch-black thriller and morality tale needs cash, and they all have to go to others to get it. Marisa Tomei's character comes to Philip Seymour Hoffman's, Hoffman's goes to Ethan Hawke's, Hawke's someone else's, and so on. If, as the title suggests, the characters would do best to get to heaven half an hour before the devil know they're dead,... MORE »
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
By Matt Singer on 10/22/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," ThinkFilm, 2007] Sidney Lumet's new film begs the question: which is more important, family or money? Everyone in his pitch-black thriller and morality tale needs cash, and they all have to go to others to get it. Marisa Tomei's character comes to Philip Seymour Hoffman's, Hoffman's goes to Ethan Hawke's, Hawke's someone else's, and so on. If, as the title suggests, the characters would do best to get to heaven half an hour before the devil know they're dead,... MORE »
"Gone Baby Gone"
By Matt Singer on 10/15/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Gone Baby Gone," Miramax, 2007] We hear Patrick Kenzie before we see him, as he narrates images of his blue-collar neighborhood. "This city is haaaahd," he says, and if the visuals don't give away the setting, that thick Boston accent sure as hell does. Patrick tells us he believes that the things we don't choose — where we grow up, who our friends are — are the things that really make us who we are. "Gone Baby Gone" is about the process by which Patrick discovers he is wrong. The film is actor Ben... MORE »
"Gone Baby Gone"
By Matt Singer on 10/15/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Gone Baby Gone," Miramax, 2007] We hear Patrick Kenzie before we see him, as he narrates images of his blue-collar neighborhood. "This city is haaaahd," he says, and if the visuals don't give away the setting, that thick Boston accent sure as hell does. Patrick tells us he believes that the things we don't choose — where we grow up, who our friends are — are the things that really make us who we are. "Gone Baby Gone" is about the process by which Patrick discovers he is wrong. The film is actor Ben... MORE »
"Kurt Cobain About a Son"
By Matt Singer on 10/04/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: AJ Schnack's "Kurt Cobain About a Son," Balcony Releasing, 2007] Though Kurt Cobain is (obviously) the subject and star of this documentary, he does not appear on screen at all until the very end of the film's 90-minute running time. Instead, "About a Son" is a compilation of the highlights of some 25 hours of never-before-heard audio interviews with Cobain, set against a collection of images of the Pacific Northwest where Cobain grew up, lived and worked. The result is interesting and, at times, a little unnerving, like taking a walk down the haunted... MORE »
"Kurt Cobain About a Son"
By Matt Singer on 10/04/2007
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: AJ Schnack's "Kurt Cobain About a Son," Balcony Releasing, 2007] Though Kurt Cobain is (obviously) the subject and star of this documentary, he does not appear on screen at all until the very end of the film's 90-minute running time. Instead, "About a Son" is a compilation of the highlights of some 25 hours of never-before-heard audio interviews with Cobain, set against a collection of images of the Pacific Northwest where Cobain grew up, lived and worked. The result is interesting and, at times, a little unnerving, like taking a walk down the haunted... MORE »
