Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3   Human beings are hunters and gatherers – walking, talking contradictions whose ambitions trump even their biological imperatives.  Yet, with all of our success as a species, at this point in our history, so many hunters and gathers are resigned to cramped spaces – apartments, cubicles, ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3   Does the damage from a loss of privacy in conducting our daily activities extend beyond those who have “something to hide”?  Absolutely.  It should go without saying that we change our behavior – consciously and unconsciously – when we know we are being watched, no ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3 Out of all of the “prestige” projects that inundated movie goers in 2014, actress/co-producer Jessica Chastain’s “labor of love,” The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, is a hell of a lot more ambitious than Jennifer Aniston’s Cake or Reese Witherspoon’s Wild.  Following in the footsteps of ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  4   Every once in a while throughout the history of popular art, it seems like a minimalist movement comes along that enables a few individuals of marginal talent (and a particular brand of salesmanship) to hop on the bandwagon and capture the attention of the czars ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 4 Writer/director J.C. Chandor burst onto the scene with Margin Call (2011), which dramatized a 24-hour period in 2008 when the major players at a New York brokerage firm realized (or could no longer ignore) that they had built their house of cards on snake oil.  ... Read More »

In one late scene in Mockingjay-Part 1, while confined to an underground bunker, Jennifer Lawrence’s now familiar action hero, Katniss, eyes a target and cocks her bow to test out a new arrow, but she is abruptly stopped by this franchise’s representation of Q (Jeffrey Wright), who warns “let’s not shoot those in here.”  That pretty much sums up this feature-length ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 2 As the modern god (or devil) of middlebrow cinema, writer/director Christopher Nolan’s primary strength (or weakness) is his penchant for abbreviating the narrative beats.  And this aspect is indispensable (or overdone) in his latest film, Interstellar, where time is relative and characters need to traverse galaxies ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 4    After any unnecessary remake, an above-average biopic, and an adaptation of a half-baked short story, it’s damn good to see director David Fincher back on his game – or I should say, The Game (1997), because that’s Gone Girl‘s closest touchstone to any of ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3    Sometimes we cannot save ourselves.  We are not worthy of confession, communion, or redemption.  And perhaps the best we can muster from the core of our remaining humanity is to save an abused puppy left in a garbage can for dead. Well, that seems ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  3   From its opening frame, Calvary jumps right into the void with an unseen male parishioner’s confessing, “I first tasted semen when I was seven years old.”  “Certainly a startling opening line,” remarks Father James (Brendon Gleeson), immediately setting the stage for this self-referential, black comedy.  ... Read More »