For some reason 1987 seems to have been the year of the punk western: Alex Cox’s Straight to Hell is an unhinged reimagining of the spaghetti western, and the imagery in the lovely Border Radio also takes cues from the western tradition. Dudes can be slotted into this slim subgenre as well, and the film is at its most self-conscious when it comes to its co-option of western tropes.
Review by Victoria Large on 31 Dec, 11:45 AM
What really makes It’s A Wonderful Life more watchable now than ever is its reminder that what ought to be the most optimistic account of the American dream ever made in Hollywood is at its heart a story of compromise, contingency, and infinite deferral. Yes, George can have a wonderful life, but only if he gives up his desire to do a job that he likes and instead does a job he hates; if he lives vicariously through the new homes of others while raising his own family in a dump; and if he accepts that his financial fate depends not on his own hard work and on strong financial and political institutions but on the last-ditch charity of his friends.
Review by Briallen Hopper on 25 Dec, 10:51 AM
Late Hitchcock Family Plot was released in the Spring of 1976, the year following Jaws and the one preceding Star Wars, and although it bears essentially no similarity to these films its nature is summated in the one credit it shares with them—John Williams, whose playful score amplifies the fundamental discrepancy of an Alfred Hitchcock film in the 1970s. Gone is the regal etiquette of his earlier films, the brandy snifters, the reserved profanity, and a demure Grace Kelly; present are homemade hamburgers, paisley, polyester suits, and Karen Black in Stevie Wonder sunglasses.
Review by Rumsey Taylor on 18 Dec, 9:34 PM
Late Hitchcock Hitchcock hadn’t made a feature in his native country for over thirty years, and the sweeping helicopter shots of the London cityscape that open the film suggest he was glad to be back. One can analogize his return to London to Woody Allen’s late-career arrival there; for both directors, the move seemed to coincide with (or inspire?) a leap in creative thought, a quick jolt that reminded them that there are always new ways to tell the same old story.
Review by Teddy Blanks on 17 Dec, 4:10 PM
Late Hitchcock As Topaz volleys back-and-forth from one place to another the plot becomes further unsnarled, and the characters’ loyalty clearer shades of black and white. It is, like North by Northwest, a globetrotter film rife with espionage, but whereas such variety in setting was integral in the 1959 film, in which natural and architectural icons elevate the film’s roller coaster suspense, in Topaz it is foremost intent to orient the action in an authentic history—a history ballasted with the elements of an old-fashioned spy plot.
Review by Rumsey Taylor on 16 Dec, 11:56 AM
Late Hitchcock The pleasures of Torn Curtain reside in these Hitchcock “moments,” the smaller and larger set-pieces of cinematic choreography that run through the film and that doubtless held Hitchcock’s interest more than the mechanics of the plot or the travails of his lead characters. And there is no greater “moment” in the film that the scene of the killing of Gromek.
Review by Ian Johnston on 15 Dec, 3:28 PMThe fact that Contagion counts the entire global populace among its characters means we don’t have much time to care about most of them, but the final scene and coda are so cooly effective that I find myself not caring.
by Michael Nordine on 04 Dec, 10:52 PMShame makes for a clear contrast to American Psycho, countering that film’s histrionic violence with histrionic sex. Both films, however, are about emotionally vacant men and their disconnection from the people around them, and the chief conceptual difference between them is that …
by Rumsey Taylor on 04 Dec, 1:36 PMEvery time Michael Fassbender’s Brandon gazes at a woman for more than a few seconds in Shame, we know exactly what’s about to happen. Since Steve McQueen does, too, he rarely wastes much time getting there. This eventually proves problematic. If we already …
by Michael Nordine on 02 Dec, 7:10 PMMartha Marcy May Marlene depicts a young girl who becomes a part of some sort of spiritual cult for two years, although “cult” is in this case an extrapolation on my part. (The end credits do, however, denominate some of the secondary actors as members …
by Rumsey Taylor on 23 Nov, 9:03 AMAFI FEST Ralph Fiennes exhibits a sort of dignified intensity in his roles that’s hard to articulate. There’s a certain level of eloquence and class to his performances (including and especially his darker turns in such films as The English …
by Michael Nordine on 13 Nov, 2:51 PMAFI Fest During the post-screening Q&A for her lush lesbian romance With Every Heartbeat, writer-director Alexandra-Therese Keining talked about the importance of making a gay-themed movie that embraced beauty and happiness, specifically not leaving its main characters miserable at the end. <…
by Josh Bell on 10 Nov, 6:22 PM"It’s got style, atmosphere, mood, swagger, weirdness, humor, romance, headbashing, some cars." http://t.co/EJetw5KP @outlawvern on 2011
