REVIEW: Attack the Block [2011]

“They’re four foot high, blind, n’ got kicked to def by a bunch a kids. We got nuthin’ to worry ’bout” After the extraordinary success Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s Shaun of the Dead’s comedy/horror mash-up found internationally, it’s no surprise their friend Joe Cornish’s feature directorial debut has achieved equally staggering results. Attack the Block is a mix of horror, comedy, and science fiction as it depicts a gang of adolescent hoodlums taking on an alien invasion in Brixton, South London. Right after the kids mug a young nurse…

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REVIEW: New Year’s Eve [2011]

“Did he just snap me in a maternity ward?” So many questions I never knew I had were answered last night during a packed house screening of New Year’s Eve. A spiritual sequel to last year’s Valentine’s Day, director Garry Marshall, writer Katherine Fugate, and at least three actors playing different characters return. Besides learning the general masses savor broad-stroked comedy when it’s spoon-fed to them, I also discovered trite generic love to be their fantasy dream-come-true of choice. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised since this film received…

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REVIEW: Submarine [2011]

“Cancer trumps potential infidelity” Only having seen one episode of “The IT Crowd” doesn’t make me a professional on the subject, but I do recall thinking it quirky, funny, and a bit awkward. It’s no surprise then that the directorial debut of one of its actors would be all those things—possibly even farther down the spectrum towards their extremes. Based on a novel by Joe Dunthorne, Richard Ayoade brings 1986 Swansea, Wales to life with a coming of age tale much more intelligent than the standard teen sex comedy. It’s…

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REVIEW: Rampart [2011]

“You can’t cheat on something you never committed to” After making a splash with his directorial debut The Messenger, writer/director Oren Moverman continues to delve into the subject matter of conflicted heroes and misunderstood men with Rampart. His focus is a veteran soldier once again, but this time far removed from his stint in Vietnam. A rough and tumble cop in the LAPD Rampart Division, his notoriety for ‘possibly’ killing an accused serial rapist years earlier has allowed him certain freedoms during the infamous 1990s scandal embroiling his department that…

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REVIEW: The Decemberists: A Practical Handbook [2006] & Pendarvia [2011]

“Whiskey, weed, and fine cocaine” It wasn’t until the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007 that I finally discovered indie-folk act The Decemberists. Yes, I was very late to the game. Already with three albums under their belt, the newest—The Crane Wife—captivated me completely. It’s sprawling, ambitious progressive folk stylings were right up my alley and I’ve not looked back since. Snagging a solitary balcony ticket to the almost sold out show at the University at Buffalo that March, I watched one of the best live acts around.…

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REVIEW: Answers to Nothing [2011]

“Why should I wait six months to be happy?” So much happens in Matthew Leutwyler’s Answers to Nothing, but how much is actually relevant? An adulterous husband with a rockstar mistress and lawyer wife, a police detective best friend and her key suspect in a child kidnapping case, a recently graduated police officer and his grade school teacher neighbor, a racist black television writer and the soundboard mixer she meets while walking their dogs, and a recovering alcoholic caring for her brain dead brother all cross paths in Los Angeles.…

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Up, down, in, and out … Babel’s Naomi Shihab Nye

Language has ‘the power to carry us away’. This is what Naomi Shihab Nye said when asked why she was drawn to literature. The daughter of a displaced Palestinian journalist—a theme thus far for the 2011/12 season of Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel—she has been enamored by language since a very early age living all over the country from St. Louis to Brockport to Texas. A very appreciative woman, she gave thanks and love to Buffalo, her Rochester publishers BOA Editions, Inc., and the Western New Yorkers who bought a…

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REVIEW: Footprints [2011]

“The strangest things happen in Hollywood in the middle of the night” Shot on location in 2007—dated by the film billboards and posters littering the scenery—and screened at a couple film festivals in the years since, Steven Peros’ Footprints finally makes its way into select theatres. Known for writing the screenplay to Peter Bogdanovich’s The Cat’s Meow, his latest cements the obvious notion that the writer/director loves Hollywood lore. Rather than tell a real life story again, Peros has instead crafted an introspective yarn touching upon the whole of cinematic…

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