Parties get a lousy rap in movies. Really, how often do you get to see characters having unfettered fun? More often, they’re moping and feeling alienated (see “Garden State”) or wasted out of their minds (see “Kids”) or feeling let down (see “Swingers”) or unearthing dark, long-kept family or friendship secrets (see “The Celebration”). Parties […]
Great musical numbers need not be in proper musicals, in fact I tend to think the best ones are in films that are not musicals at all. I confess, I do not particularly enjoy musicals. However, the well crafted musical number, especially when slipped into a comedy/drama/weepie/etc is a real treat. Tops for me is […]
“Why so glum, chum?” It’s the first question I really wanted to ask 67-year-old Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, whose provocative social dramas are fueled by some of the bleakest, most distressing subject matter in world cinema today. Whether it’s the sadomasochistic student-tutor romance in “The Piano Teacher,” the relentlessly brutal critique of violence as entertainment […]
It’s about time to start enforcing those trusty resolutions… after, of course you’ve nursed the hangover that comes with ringing in 2010. In honor of new beginnings and breaking old habits, IFC’s celebrating the New Year with those in need of serious resolution rehab. It all kicks off 6am on January 1st with the old-school […]
Yesterday I was mugged. After spending the day waiting at police stations and banks, I finally ended up back at home, dispirited and having been away from you, gentle reader, for far too long. I fired up all the blogs I would’ve normally gone through hours ago, and instantly, there was balm for my weary […]
The most colossal failure of the decade has been George Bush and his fascistic administration. By consequence, American foreign policy, American culture, and America overall has been a failure, if measured against the previous century. We entered the age of the supersized moron, plastic family values and air brushed crusades. On par with these fakes, […]
Because few people pay close attention to film composers, they can pretty much say whatever the hell they think on the rare occasions someone thinks to interview them. As a result, “Where The Wild Things Are” composer Carter Burwell provides as much concrete information on the film’s studio-meeting turmoil as anyone on record yet in […]
Seasoned moviegoers have come to recognize certain visual cues that let them know they’re about to witness scenes of unspeakable brutality: A close-up of a pot of boiling liquid in a movie that’s not about cooking. The emergence of a straight razor in a scene not set in a barbershop. And the five words: “Ein […]
“Police, Adjective” is one of the year’s most striking films, the type that will be embraced by some and derided by others for its bone dry humor, its solemnly long takes (including scrolling down hand-written police reports) and the fact that its climax pivots on the dictionary definition of “conscience.” It is, in some ways, […]
Zach Galifianakis lip synched in a Fiona Apple video 2 years before appearing in Kanye West’s remake of his “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” video, but it wasn’t that funny and any points Kanye and crew lose for being copy cats they more than make up for in hilarity. The presence of Appalachian folk punk Will […]
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