Sigmund Freud, that veritable master of the mind and erstwhile liaison betwixt the dream world and our own (is there really such a hard distinction between the two?), said, “Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” In a world where dreams are entered into volitionally, like remarkable virtual reality chambers, anything [...]
If it’s true that superheroes and their stories are the epic tales of our time, then Iron Man (and Iron Man 2) fit the bill. With such obvious Greek elements (not to mention Greek words) as hamartia and hubris, superheroes possess some requisite characteristics suited to telling the engrossing story of a lone man on [...]
Like any twentieth-century decade worth its muster, the eighties carved out an oversized niche for itself in American popular culture. The ubiquity of neon and the advent of portable music ushered into Americana a near constant stream of things we’d rather forget, like Men at Work and Gremlins, and a few we wish had stayed [...]
Despite the misnomer of a title and at least one misleading trailer, this film is not a pleasant, idyllic look at a significant man’s relationship with his daughter. It is, in fact, a full-fledged biopic, at times a compelling and disheartening tale of an individual whose life’s work would indefinitely change the fields of science. [...]
Idiosyncratic, eccentric, and unconventional? Perhaps. Enjoyable, charming, and timeless? Absolutely. This newest take on the enchanting Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass stories by Lewis Carroll is an endearing film, full of delightful characters, equal parts nostalgia and originality, and another beguiling performance from Johnny Depp. The combination of vibrant visuals and a timeless story of [...]
This is my one post per year (more or less) on this site that is not a review. And I get pretty excited about it.
First, my “movies of the year” list. These are the Top 10, plus 1 that was really close to Top 10 – all of which are the films I found to [...]
Based on the television series of the same name, Edge of Darkness is a return to the screen both of this particular story, and of a particularly reclusive actor as of late, Mel Gibson. Mel’s return is also Martin Campbell’s return to the story, as he also directed the TV series back in the 1980’s. [...]
Few know how to do psychological thrill rides like Scorsese. Evoking (if not channelling) 1991’s Cape Fear, Shutter Island manages to pull off another thriller of extensive scope. Both films allow the score and the camera to set the tone almost entirely in many scenes, in others stripping the score away and returning to conventional camera [...]
Post-apocalyptic stories have a certain resonance now. (“Now” defined as “post-Hiroshima.”) Given our predilection for lone men on missions to save humanity, this post-apocalyptic mankind-savior on a mission already has a foot in the door of our imaginations, and Denzel Washington remains one of the blockbuster names who delivers on more than one level, bringing [...]