Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 4 As the title to his new film suggests, writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn is not concerned with the godly virtues – only blood and justice. The blood is certainly thicker than water. And the justice is old world. That blood runs through Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), her first son, Billy (Tom ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 3 To the average American viewer, there is a distinct sense of certain cold hard reality to modern Scandinavian films – even when the filmmakers are having a bit of fun (Rare Exports (2011), Headhunters (2012)). A Hijacking – the first film by Danish writer/director Tobias Lindholm to receive a worldwide release – is ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale: (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 3 Based on the preview, I expected Sarah Polley’s documentary about her family to be cutesy and self-absorbed. The kitschy piano score, the purposefully low quality video, and the idea of Polley spending 108 minutes exposing her family’s salacious secrets kept my expectations low. I was wrong. ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 4 (NOTE: This review does contain spoilers of the two previous films, Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004).) In the interests of full disclosure, I must confess to a certain unavoidable degree of subjectivity in assessing what has become writer/director Richard Linklater’s fictional riff on the Seven Up! documentaries (1964-). I was a 24 ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 3 The very title of director J.J. Abrams’ sequel to the reboot, Star Trek (2009), begs comparison with The Dark Knight (2008), another sequel which was widely considered an even stronger film than its origin story. The comparison is even more apt considering the oft-stated critical rule of the Star ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?) 3 Iron Man 3 is the best Iron Man movie ever! … Bring it on, Man of Steel! … It’s the official start of Summer Movie Season 2013, and I want to throw my hat into the ring for getting a “persuasive” quote onto a TV ad or DVD cover. Or maybe a sidebar on a ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 4 On a weekly basis back in the 1980s, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel invited a teenager from a small town in Florida and millions of others who did not live in New York or Los Angeles into their frank and articulate conversations about all sorts of movies. Siskel and Ebert reminded us that ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 3 As the credits rolled at the conclusion of the 140-minute The Place Beyond the Pines, I immediately wondered if the film is as successful as the novel in conveying the three distinct-but-related stories of fathers and sons. And much to my surprise, I found out that the screenplay – penned by ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 3 What makes a great horror film? The answer is likely to vary from viewer to viewer more so than with any other genre of film. Whether steeped in allegory/metaphor or not, at a minimum, a horror film should unsettle the viewer, for better or for worse. And ... Read More »
Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?): 4 In 1988, after 15 years under dictator Augusto Pinoche, the international community – including the U.S., who had previously supported the anti-Communist dictator – forced a referendum (“plebiscite”) on Pinoche’s continued rule, with the ballot simply asking “Yes” or “No.” The powers-that-be also compelled the government – which had a history ... Read More »
