“I don’t think God is very interested in me Father”
Read MoreREVIEW: The American [2010]
Month: August 2010
REVIEW: Animal Kingdom [2010]
“Crooks always come undone” The new, critically acclaimed Australian film Animal Kingdom debuted earlier this year at Sundance to rave reviews before it even opened in its native country. Finally, eight months later, the rest of North America is able to check out this brutal crime drama for themselves in select cities too. And they aren’t likely to forget the Cody family after watching the story unfold, seeing young Josh scooped into their criminal activity with no other place to go after his mother overdoses on heroin. A seemingly good…
Read MoreFILM MARATHON: Terrence Malick #2 – Days of Heaven [1978]
“But if you’ve been bad, God don’t even hear you. He don’t even hear ya talkin’.” Overwhelmed. The tagline got it right: every sense—by the end of Days of Heaven—will be overwhelmed. Terrence Malick’s second feature film is as breathtaking as you’ve heard, mesmerizing you with its sumptuous beauty until the hellish climax burns through your soul with its flames of vengeance. I seriously don’t know which is more gorgeous, the sprawling wheat fields straight from an Andrew Wyeth painting or the stark contrast of fire on the night sky,…
Read MoreREVIEW: Going the Distance [2010]
“Dan, take me to Berlin” Acclaimed director—and Buffalo, NY native—Nanette Burstein has finally made her way to the world of fictional film. After helming the documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture about producer Robert Evans, one could say she took a step towards narrative with American Teen, a real-life look into today’s high schools and just how close John Hughes got The Breakfast Club. I remember some talk about staging and scripting reactions to make it all more cinematically interesting, but whether true or not, the film was a…
Read MoreREVIEW: Takers [2010]
“There goes Channel 14 … going the wrong way” Shot at the end of 2008 with promotional materials cropping up during the following year, the only fathomable reason I can think for the film Takers being released in the second half of 2010 is actor/producer Chris Brown’s extra-curricular activities. Honestly, besides the uninspired poster residing at our theatres for a full year, I’ve been looking forward to the heist flick. Playing like Ocean’s 11, but from the streets, you can’t deny the style at work right from the start. Gordon…
Read MoreREVIEW: Shall We Dance [1937]
“The first time I’m in love, I’m in love with you” They just don’t make movies like this anymore and there definitely isn’t a comparable screen duo working today. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers collaborated on an astounding ten films together; most described jokingly by my friends as having the same plot and being mere vehicles to showcase their dance moves. Astaire and choreography partner Hermes Pan—who would dub Ginger’s taps and teach her the steps after each routine was crafted—infused some spectacular pieces in these movies, many shot with…
Read MoreREVIEW: Centurion [2010]
“A man without his word is no better than a beast” Writer/director Neil Marshall has style and hopefully will continue to bring it forth on cinema screens for years to come, if he decides to travel back to America or not. Many lesser auteurs would have taken that Hollywood payday and looked for another to follow. Marshall, however, hot on the success of his spelunking horror/thriller The Descent, made Doomsday with US money only to see it falter out of the starting gate. Perhaps he had deals to remain stateside,…
Read MoreDESIGN: Buy Buffalo [spec]
Nick Mendola—a friend and constant collaborator of mine—had an idea to try and drive funds into the local, Mom-and-Pop businesses of the Western New York region. He was looking to make the city’s restaurants commodities unto themselves by creating a campaign to help push them into the public’s consciousness so entrenched in the allure of national franchises. After hearing his pitch of ideas to give price tags to the city, I came up with an alternative that would actually make the city the price. Using the concept of a barcode,…
Read MoreREVIEW: Ra Ra Riot’s The Orchard [2010]
“Enjoying the expansive views of the countryside Mennonite community” Tuesday, August 24, 2010 marks the drop date for Ra Ra Riot’s sophomore release The Orchard. Accompanying Special Edition copies of the disc, available at Barsuk Records, is a making of documentary short by directors Taryn Gould and Emily Kowalczyk. Deciding to self-produce the disc without having an extra personality in the room to use as a crutch to ‘get things done’, the group went to upstate New York where guitarist Milo Bonacci’s family had a peach orchard up for sale.…
Read MoreFILM MARATHON: Terrence Malick #1 – Badlands [1973]
“He said that if the Devil came at me, I could shoot him with a gun” A character at the end of Terrence Malick’s debut feature film Badlands tells antihero Kit that he is “quite the individual”. This could be the understatement of 1973. Based on the 1950s Starkweather-Fugate killing spree, the film tells the tale of a 25-year old James Dean type and his 15-year old girlfriend on the run. Shy, young, and naïve, Holly falls in love with this man who somehow also picked her despite the potential…
Read MoreREVIEW: Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang [Nanny McPhee Returns] [2010]
“Yes poo man, we’ve come from far, far away in the land of soap” I must say I’m disappointed in Emma Thompson. I could understand her desire to write and star in an adaptation of Nurse Matilda—perhaps a childhood favorite of hers or her children—but her new incarnation of the wart-faced, bucktoothed taskmaster, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, seems a complete cash grab. I looked past the juvenile humor of the first film, realizing the work was aimed at children, but the amount of poo jokes here is astonishing,…
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