Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10):  4  Legend has it that director Steven Soderbergh’s debut feature film, sex, lies, and videotape (1989), ushered in the rise of the indie film in the 1990s, and more specifically, the emergence of the Sundance Film Festival as an influence on American movie culture.  (The Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) is one ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  5  In recognition of the holiday, this article is the first installment of four published in February 2013 highlighting my favorite love stories put to celluloid in the 21st century. Director Steven Shainberg has described his second feature film, Secretary, as a “black comedy coming-of-age” – at least on its ... Read More »

10.  Holy Motors (written and directed by Leos Carax, and starring Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Kylie Minogue, and Eva Mendes).  At the outset, I feel obliged to say that this top 10 list tends to reward ambition more than it probably should.  In this respect, Holy Motors generally defies comparison to any other film released this year.  Director Carax follows “working actor” Lavant through a single day consisting of ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?   4 Writer/director Michael Haneke’s trademark is shining an often unflattering light on our sociological constructs.  In Funny Games (1997 & 2007) and Caché (2005), he poked and prodded at the family unit to see just how much it could take in the midst of survival instincts and guilt.  In his last film, The White ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  3  “What is Movie 43?” is more than a tagline born out of marketing desperation.  Very few people have heard of Movie 43, and yet no other movie released in 2013 has as many A-list stars and familiar character actors in this anthology of 14 below-the-belt comedy shorts (fit for a ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  4  At its core, Rust and Bone – the sixth feature film by writer/director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet (2010)) –  is a love story stripped of the romance and a melodrama steeped in reality.  True to the nature of love as a product of what each party brings to the table, the film often turns its focus to the ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3   Director Steven Spielberg has often been accused of making “emotionally manipulative” films, to which he responds (to paraphrase) – that’s the whole point of making a movie.  That said, the relevant question behind a very legitimate criticism of Spielberg’s films is not whether a film is manipulative, but how the filmmaker chooses ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  5   What does it really mean for a director to be considered an “auteur” – the artist who is most responsible for the final product that is a feature film?  Films are such a collaborative effort.  The screenwriter provides the source material, the actual producers serve as the gatekeepers between the resources and ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  4 Based on the progression from Reservoir Dogs (1993) to Pulp Fiction (1994) to Jackie Brown (1997), some of us had hoped that the last decade would bring an evolution in the films of Quentin Tarantino.  But unfortunately, the downward spiral that began with the Kill Bill series (2003-2004) continues with Django Unchained.  The juicy fruit ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  8   Director William Friedkin will probably best be known for his exemplary career trajectory as an alumnus of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s – starting with the Oscar-winning The French Connection (1971), continuing with with the shocking The Exorcist (1973), and ending with the self-indulgent flop/masterpiece Sorcerer (1977).  Much like director Sidney Lumet’s black swan song, Before the ... Read More »