Precious, or The Blind Side?
I recently ventured past the holiday bargain-hunters to see two very different blockbuster films. Both movies centered around African-American teenagers who are up against the odds but destined to...
View ArticleAnalyzing Up In the Air
Since Up in the Air is up for six Oscars this Sunday, it can’t hurt to delve into this unassuming film, which most of us have probably caught by now. (If you haven’t, this is your call to make that...
View ArticleAn Interview with Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler
After a busy run on the film festival circuit, a theatrical release, and the upcoming DVD release of their film William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe on April 27th, I’m grateful that Emily Kunstler...
View ArticleOur House: An Interview with Greg King
Greg King’s new documentary, Our House, is about an experimental Christian community in Brooklyn. Led by several young, punk, vegan Christians, Our House is an abandoned warehouse-turned-homestead for...
View ArticleInsecurity, Creativity, and Superiority
At the end of The Social Network, David Fincher’s film chronicling the creation of the social networking site Facebook, I found myself asking the question, What motivates my own creativity? Why do I...
View ArticleLove and Liberation in Of Gods and Men
Of Gods and Men reminded me how captivating film can be as an art form. French director Xavier Beauvois masterfully refrains from sensationalizing the true story of seven Trappist monks who perished...
View ArticleSoup Kitchens and Rock and Roll Healings
As Dean “Delicious” O’Dwyer whips along the streets of Sympathy for Delicious‘s hazy LA, one almost marvels at his practiced nonchalance in the wheelchair. It is hard not to think of Christopher...
View ArticleA New Short Film By Bryan McManus: “Where We Call Home”
Where do you call home? Consider supporting “Where We Call Home” on Kickstarter. It’s a story about the ‘right kind of wrong’ and a developing a sense of place. Where We Call Home WHY Why this story...
View ArticleUnraveled, but Not Undeceived
Marc Simon’s latest documentary, Unraveled, delves into the mind of Marc Dreier, an attorney convicted of fraud. Overshadowed by the Bernie Madoff scandal, Dreier’s story, though in the press, might...
View ArticleCan Anyone Make Me Less “Miserables?”
The more I go over it, the more I’m torn on how to react. My instinct is to despise and dismiss. But many viewings of the trailer for the new film interpretation of Les Miserables – due out Christmas...
View ArticleAdapting to Adaptations
In 1909, the very first American full-length motion picture lit the screen. The film was part of that beloved and contested genre, the literary adaptation. It was the first of many film versions of...
View ArticleAn Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Combining live action, animation, interviews and formal narration, Terence Nance’s feature film An Oversimplification of Her Beauty is a creative patchwork that delves deep into the emotional life of...
View ArticleOcean’s Wonder
Frederico Fellini’s 1963 film 8½ is brilliant for many reasons I won’t pretend to fully understand. But at the center of all its nuance is Fellini’s ego. In 8½, Fellini created a complete picture of...
View ArticleThe Horror of Knowing
The Innkeepers is part classic horror film, part workplace comedy, and part deliberate study of both place and character—which, when taken together, makes the movie a hard sell to a lot of people. And...
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