Month: June 2014

Snowpiercer

Films with inherent nihilism, like Snowpiercer, usually fight an uphill battle with American audiences. The film is made by famed South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho, whose Mother and The Host showcased his incredible talent with tension and stylistic violence. Snowpiercer is hisRead Full Review

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The How To Train Your Dragon series has very quietly become the best that DreamWorks Animation has to offer. The original film and its new sequel are funny in a sweet kind of way and market themselvesRead Full Review

Obvious Child

There have been many films that strive to be the kind of subversive romantic comedy that Obvious Child is. The film is the brain child of filmmaker Gillian Robespierre, who made the film as a short backRead Full Review

22 Jump Street

Comedies like 22 Jump Street are always one step ahead of you. It’s seemingly perfect contrast of absurdity and subversive realism makes it impossible to make judgments – you can’t nitpick because it’s already nitpicked itself. 2012’s 21Read Full Review

Edge of Tomorrow

When I initially saw the image of Tom Cruise running around in a metallic exoskeleton from the first production still of Edge of Tomorrow I was overcome with disappointment. Cruise has spent the better part of aRead Full Review

We Are The Best!

We see We Are The Best! through the eyes of adolescents seeking attention and adoration during a time in their lives where they are at their most emotionally vulnerable. It showcases a time where all can seemRead Full Review

Maleficent

If classic Disney fans were as rabid as comic book fans, I think there may be some flames and pitchforks coming after the revisionist history within Maleficent. The character, so popular as the antagonist from 1959’s SleepingRead Full Review

The Immigrant

James Gray makes movies suited for a bygone era. His best film (Two Lovers) has several calling cards of the more personal dramatic films of the 1970’s. He doesn’t seem to have much an appreciationRead Full Review

Chef

Say what you will about Jon Favreau the filmmaker, he’s always had a knack for finding what most audiences want. His taste is just the kind of broad competency that a major Hollywood studio canRead Full Review

Belle

If we weren’t living in a world in which 12 Years a Slave was released just a year ago, Belle‘s release may have been considered more important. Belle‘s approach is almost completely inverted from Steve McQueen’s film. It seesRead Full Review