Posted by Jared Mobarak on April 22, 2018 · Leave a Comment
“Love is the frequency” While waiting outside the bathrooms after A Wrinkle in Time finished, I saw a white couple with their two young, fair-haired daughters walking out of the theater. Mom and Dad were explaining to one how movies are interpretations. They were reminding her that she had an idea of what the characters […]
Category action/adventure, family, fantasy, film reviews · Tags A Wrinkle in Time, André Holland, Ava DuVernay, Chris Pine, Deric McCabe, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jeff Stockwell, Jennifer Lee, Levi Miller, Madeleine L'Engle, Michael Peña, Mindy Kaling, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Rowan Blanchard, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis
Posted by Jared Mobarak on December 25, 2016 · Leave a Comment
“Don’t let fear stop you from doing the thing you love” After helming The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Son of Rambow, it’s easy to forget writer/director Garth Jennings started his career as one half of music video masters Hammer & Tongs. Pair his knowledge of music with some great past examples of family-friendly […]
Category animation, comedy, drama, family, film reviews, musical/concert · Tags Garth Jennings, Jay Pharoah, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Saunders, John C. Reilly, Leslie Jones, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Peter Serafinowicz, Reese Witherspoon, Rhea Perlman, Scarlett Johansson, Seth MacFarlane, Sing, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly
Posted by Jared Mobarak on March 26, 2016 · Leave a Comment
“He just wanted to sit in the front seat” Sometimes the most intriguing aspect of a film project is the “why” of its creation. This usually deals with the changing of hands or evolution of scripts as words on the page become spoken onscreen, but every once in awhile the fascination is more abstract. The […]
Category action/adventure, comedy, film reviews · Tags Anne Fletcher, David Feeney, Hot Pursuit, Jim Gaffigan, Joaquín Cosio, John Quaintance, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Kazinsky, Sofía Vergara
Posted by Jared Mobarak on March 25, 2015 · Leave a Comment
I don’t want to label 2014 as a good, bad, or average year. I want to call it inventive, original, and delightfully dark. Whether it’s doppelgänger paradoxes leading to murderous rage, the bleak carnage of war, prison violence, or psychologically debilitating struggles to be great, my favorite films had an edge that cut to the […]
Category essays, top 10 films, z.slideshow · Tags 20000 Days on Earth, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, A Most Violent Year, Abus de faiblesse, Abuse of Weakness, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amy Adams, Ava DuVernay, Beats of the Antonov, Belle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Beyond the Lights, Big Eyes, Big Hero 6, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Björk: Biophilia Live, Boyhood, Calvary, Citizenfour, Clouds of Sils Maria, Coherence, Coming Home, Dear White People, Deux jours une nuit, Dinosaur 13, Edward Norton, Enemy, Felicity Jones, Finding Vivian Maier, Force Majeure, Foxcatcher, Frank, Fury, Gary Poulter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Gui lai, Hellion, How to Train Your Dragon 2, J.C. Chandor, J.K. Simmons, Jack O'Connell, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Chastain, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Joe, Julianne Moore, Keira Knightley, Kis Uykusu, Last Days in Vietnam, Laura Dern, Leviafan, Leviathan, Libertador, Life Itself, Listen Up Phillip, Logan Lerman, Love is Strange, Manakamana, Mandariinid, Marion Cotillard, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Mommy, Palo Alto, Particle Fever, Reese Witherspoon, Relatos salvajes, Richard Linklater, Samba, Selma, Song of the Sea, Starred Up, Still Alice, Take Me to the River, Tangerines, The Better Angels, The Boxtrolls, The Drop, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The LEGO Movie, The Liberator, The Overnighters, The Salt of the Earth, The Skeleton Twins, The Theory of Everything, The Wanted 18, Timbuktu, Trick or Treaty?, Turist, Two Days One Night, Under the Skin, Virunga, Wes Anderson, Whiplash, Wild, Wild Tales, Winter Sleep
Posted by Jared Mobarak on February 20, 2015 · Leave a Comment
Things look pretty cut and dry where the Academy is concerned in 2015. The Oscars are always a somewhat watered-down look at what really mattered in the past year of cinema and this installment is no exception. In fact, it may be all water at this point. That doesn’t mean there can’t be some intriguing […]
Category essays, oscars · Tags 12 Years a Slave, A Most Violent Year, A Most Wanted Man, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, American Sniper, Amy Adams, Anthony McCarten, Armando Bo, Ava DuVernay, Babel, Ben Affleck, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bennett Miller, Big Eyes, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Boyhood, Bradley Cooper, Brendan Gleeson, Cake, Calvary, Christopher Schobert, Coherence, Damien Chazelle, Dan Futterman, Dan Gilroy, David Gordon Green, David Oyelowo, E. Max Frye, Eddie Redmayne, Edge of Tomorrow, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Emmanuel Lubezki, Enemy, Essie Davis, Ethan Hawke, Feast, Felicity Jones, Foxcatcher, Fury, Gary Poulter, Gone Girl, Graham Moore, Groundhog Day, Gyllenhaal, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hugo Guinness, Inherent Vice, J.K. Simmons, Jack O'Connell, Jason Hall, Jennifer Aniston, Jenny Slate, Jessica Chastain, Joe, Jupiter Ascending, Kaitlyn Dever, Kathryn Bigelow, Keira Knightley, Laura Dern, Locke, Logan Lerman, Maps to the Stars, Marion Cotillard, Mark Ruffalo, Men Women & Children, Meryl Streep, Michael Keaton, Moonrise Kingdom, Morten Tyldum, Nicolás Giacobone, Nightcrawler, Obvious Child, Only Lovers Left Alive, Patricia Arquette, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Reese Witherspoon, Richard Linklater, Robert Duvall, Rosamund Pike, Selma, Slumdog Millionaire, Starred Up, Steve Carell, Steven Spielberg, The Babadook, The Double, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The Judge, The King's Speech, The One I Love, The Theory of Everything, Timothy Spall, Two Days One Night, Under the Skin, Wes Anderson, Whiplash, Wild, William Altreuter
Posted by Jared Mobarak on January 22, 2015 · Leave a Comment
“I’m just a Sunday painter” It’s a paint-off. Literally. Will the winner be the charismatic salesman peddling his wife’s art as his own or the soft-spoken woman slaving away in a turpentine-filled room that’s been dominated and belittled into allowing him to do so? Who will earn the right to say they were the creators […]
Category biography, drama, film reviews · Tags Amy Adams, Big Eyes, Christoph Waltz, Danny Elfman, Delaney Raye, Jason Schwartzman, Jon Polito, Kate Hudson, Krysten Ritter, Larry Karaszewski, Margaret Keane, Reese Witherspoon, Scott Alexander, Terence Stamp, Tim Burton
Posted by Jared Mobarak on December 29, 2014 · Leave a Comment
“Cold mush dreams” The cinematic adaptation of Cheryl Strayed‘s memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail seems to be getting pigeonholed hard as being solely a tale of female empowerment. It most definitely is, but I’m not sure critics should necessarily call it a day with such a generic categorization. There’s […]
Category biography, drama, film reviews, z.slideshow · Tags Charles Baker, Cheryl Strayed, Dallas Buyers Club, Emilio Estevez, Gaby Hoffmann, Into the Wild, Jean-Marc Vallée, Keene McRae, Kevin Rankin, Laura Dern, Nick Hornby, Reese Witherspoon, Sean Penn, The Way, Thomas Sadoski, W. Earl Brown, Wild, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Posted by Jared Mobarak on December 11, 2014 · Leave a Comment
“Something Spanish” While no stranger to comedy, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson had yet to go full screwball as he does with Thomas Pynchon‘s Inherent Vice. I shouldn’t say “full” considering the laughs are desert dry and delivered with the utmost severity, but laugh-out-loud wouldn’t be an out of question turn of phrase to utilize if […]
Category comedy, drama, film reviews · Tags Chinatown, Eric Roberts, Hong Chau, Inherent Vice, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Keith Jardine, Martin Short, Owen Wilson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Reese Witherspoon, Sasha Pieterse, Thomas Pynchon, William S. Burroughs
Posted by Jared Mobarak on October 14, 2014 · Leave a Comment
“I’m thinking about that chicken” It isn’t easy to write a film around a tragic hot-button issue such as the “Lost Boys of Sudan” without coming across as either exploitative or manipulative. Making the result human is an even loftier goal. I won’t say screenwriter Margaret Nagle and director Philippe Falardeau were flawless in their […]
Category drama, film reviews · Tags Arnold Oceng, Beats of the Antonov, Corey Stoll, Deng Ajuet, Emmanuel Jal, Ger Duany, Keji Jale, Kuoth Wiel, Margaret Nagle, Okwar Jale, Peterdeng Mongok, Philippe Falardeau, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Baker, The Blind Side, The Good Lie, Thon Kueth
Posted by Jared Mobarak on August 26, 2014 · Leave a Comment
We may have two consistent film festivals here in town showcasing small releases and restored classics, but you might not realize how close we are to one of the biggest in the world. Most “in the know” will center on five events when thinking about the best of the best film festivals and while Venice, […]
Category entertainment, essays, film features, film festival, toronto international film festival · Tags A Little Chaos, A Second Chance, Alan Rickman, Andrew Niccol, Angelina Jolie, Antoine Fuqua, Barry Levinson, Before We Go, Bennett Miller, Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Chris Evans, Clouds of Sils Maria, Coming Home, Dallas Buyers Club, Dan Gilroy, David Cronenberg, David Dobkin, David Gordon Green, Denzel Washington, Diablo Cody, Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2, Ellen Page, Foxcatcher, Good Kill, Hal Hartley, Isao Takahata, James Franco, Jason Reitman, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Marc Vallée, Johnnie To, Jon Stewart, Juno, Kevin Smith, Manglehorn, Maps to the Stars, Men Women & Children, Michaël R. Roskam, Michael Winterbottom, Michel Hazanavicius, Mike Leigh, Mommy, Mr. Turner, Ned Rifle, Nightcrawler, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Olivier Assayas, Paul Bettany, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Rosewater, Shelter, Steve Carell, Susanne Bier, The Cobbler, The Drop, The Equalizer, The Humbling, The Judge, The Search, The Sound and the Fury, Thomas McCarthy, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, Training Day, Tusk, Wild, Winter Sleep, Xavier Dolan, Yimou Zhang
Posted by Jared Mobarak on May 4, 2013 · Leave a Comment
“Green beans never tasted so good” It’s a rarity to find a coming-of-age story set inside an adult-themed drama. Usually we’re made to watch adolescents caught inside the funny/awkward growing pains of puberty as lust and love and vanity and fear all mix into a pool of hormonal angst, embarrassment, and pratfall through comedy. Writer/director […]
Category drama, film reviews · Tags Bonnie Sturdivant, Jacob Lofland, Jeff Nichols, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Shannon, Mud, Ray McKinnon, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard, Sarah Paulson, Tye Sheridan
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