Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  8   In September 2012, the Criterion Collection released the director approved edition of director David Fincher’s The Game (1997) on BD and DVD.  The package features an essay by David Sterritt, Chairman of the National Society of Film Critics. Director David Fincher’s oft-forgotten The Game (1995) was notably released between his breakthrough hit, Se7en (1995), and the cinephile ... Read More »

Spoiler Rating (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  8    A Tale of Two Cuts   Hopes were high after playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan had experienced his first bit of critical and commercial success with his directorial film debut, You Can Count on Me (2000), including Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress (Laura ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3    Writers/directors Neil LaBute and Todd Solondz both had auspicious beginnings in the fertile ground of indie cinema in the 1990s – right before a wave of political correctness swept over American filmmaking on 9/11.  And in my opinion, in 1998, both filmmakers assembled stellar ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  9    This is Joseph Campbell territory.  As such, it is important to remember that, as the cornerstones of a twentieth-century mythology, comic book characters are not supposed to be three-dimensional human beings, but more personifications of distinct ideas.  Indeed, “personification” might be too strong a word.  Rather, ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  7    Woody Allen once said, “Paranoia is knowing all the facts.”  Substitute the word “paranoia” with the word “depression,” and you have the thematic backbone of Lars von Trier’s new film, Melancholia (2011). The first half – titled “Part I – Justine” – covers the wedding reception of the ... Read More »