15 articles

3 hours ago

Deceptively simple and deeply cutting. A remarkable little film, a marvel of American indie filmmaking and of stories typically overlooked. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

So deceptively simple. And so deeply cutting. The year is 1864. Skirting American Civil War battlefields, and with, naturally, no notion that the end of the war is in sight, is 13-year-old Will (Ashton Sanders), who manages to survive as a free young black man, barely, by working, with his uncle, Marcus (Keston John), for a white bounty hunter, Burrell (Bill Oberst Jr.), who retrieves runaway slaves from the North and returns them to their “rightful” owners in the South. But their latest assignment, to ensnare Nate (Tishuan Scott: Computer Chess) for Burrell, has been a challenge for Will. For while Marcus is brusque and self-serving — or is he, too, »

- MaryAnn Johanson

5 hours ago

This gentle — too gentle — mockumentary barely even takes aim at its easiest potential targets, but the appealing cast is game and manages a few cogent hits. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Christian “rock” and “pop” music could do with a bit of a smackdown (oh, you want teenagers to get actually hot and bothered about Jesus, do you?) and it’s not like it’s even that hard to do. Which makes it a bit of a mystery that this gentle — too gentle — mockumentary barely even attempts the lame jokes such an easy target provides, and almost completely ignores the slightly less easy ones. When evangelical Pastor Jerry (Joel McCrary: The Smurfs 2) gets the bad medical news that he is not long for this world, he panics: He has to save his teenaged son »

- MaryAnn Johanson

6 hours ago

You’ve probably heard the news: Come next year, Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report will end, and Stephen Colbert — as himself, not as the blowhard conservative idiot he portrays on the show — will move over to take up the hosting spot on CBS’s Late Show.

Here’s how Colbert handled the news on The Colbert Report:

I gotta tell you, I do not envy whoever they try to put in that chair.

This transition has made the news in the U.K. and Australia, which astonishes me, because I can’t imagine that anyone outside the U.S. (and maybe Canada — maybe) has even heard of either Colbert or Letterman. It’s akin to U.S. CNN covering the news that So-and-so has just been signed by Man U. (Most Americans would have no idea what “Man U.” is even referring to.)

Anyway: I am not terribly happy at this news. »

- MaryAnn Johanson

9 hours ago

Oh what a lovely film! As romance and history, this is by turns funny and tragic, suspenseful and celebratory, and never less than solidly entertaining. I’m “biast” (pro): love Chiwetel Ejiofor

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Oh what a lovely film! The feature debut of screenwriter and director Biyi Bandele tells the tale of Nigeria in the 1960s, from independence through civil war, through the eyes of two sisters and the different roads they followed for their lives. Twins Olanna (Thandie Newton: Vanishing on 7th Street) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose: For Colored Girls) are more openly liberated than even many women in the U.S. or the U.K. at the time would have been, and more than even their wealthy, progressive family in Lagos is completely happy with. No matter to them! »

- MaryAnn Johanson

10 hours ago

A teeth-grindingly, blood-boilingly infuriating cinematic trial that’s like an art school film project gone horribly awry. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): not a fan of experimental film

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

A man arrives home from a business trip to discover his wife missing yet the door to their apartment chained from the inside. That’s about as coherent a moment to be found in this teeth-grindingly, blood-boilingly infuriating cinematic trial. As Dan (the Willem Dafoe-esque Klaus Tange: A Royal Affair) explores the gothic Art Nouveau building he and his wife live in, seeking clues to her disappearance — from the likes of the Miss Havisham up on the seventh floor, who tells a tale of her husband vanishing within the structure as well — we are “treated” to a phantasmagorical nightmare that’s like an art school film project gone horribly awry. »

- MaryAnn Johanson

10 April 2014 4:57 AM, PDT

There aren’t many outright scares here, and when they do come, they are curiously circumspect, but the old-fashioned Hammer Horror atmosphere is appealingly spooky. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Welcome to the experiment,” says seedy-tweedy Professor Coupland to his new documentarian, Av geek Brian, not quite adding “Bwahahahaha!” to the greeting, but you can almost hear it anyway. For we’re already starting to suspect that the academic is a little bit mad and a little bit sadistic; also, he’s Jared Harris (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), who brings his usual offhand creepiness to the screen. Brian (Sam Claflin: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) is not one of Coupland’s students at Oxford University — “I’d never get in here,” he laments — which makes him the perfect outside observer and resident skeptic as Coupland, »

- MaryAnn Johanson

9 April 2014 1:18 PM, PDT

Reader Etana wondered if it would be morbid to gaze upon Philip Seymour Hoffman. I said of course not. I wish we’d done it sooner.

I don’t know what or when this is from, but I like it:

With his friend Oscar:

Everyone simply looks more dramatic in black-and-white:

(If you have a suggestion for someone we should female-gaze at, feel free to email me with a name or a link to a particular photo. But check to see whom we’ve already gazed at.) »

- MaryAnn Johanson

9 April 2014 11:40 AM, PDT

Scarlett Johansson is an alien serial killer who sexes men to death in a misogynist fanboy wet dream that also fails to satisfy as science fiction. I’m “biast” (pro): I’m a big ol’ science fiction geek

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Scarlett Johansson is an alien. A sexy sexy alien who seduces men and sexes them to death. In Scotland. Except the poor dumb idiots don’t even really get to have sex with Scarlett Johansson. They just go for a ride with her in her white serial-killer van and then end up kinda drowning in some black goo while watching Scarlett Johansson in her undies sashaying sexily toward them. The guys seem okay with this. It’s all very metaphoric. Also science fictiony, in an indie arthouse way. I »

- MaryAnn Johanson

9 April 2014 9:49 AM, PDT

This is from the IMDb page for the film I Am Yours (Jeg er din), from the section where users supply keywords that describe the plot:

“Girl in panties.” “Panties pulled down.” “Panties.” “White panties.”

That’s it. That’s what the horny movie fanboy mindset wants you to know this film is about. It’s all that matters. It’s all you need to know… as long as you, too, embrace the horny movie fanboy mindset mindset. And who doesn’t?

I mean, never mind “single mother,” “traditional marriage,” “immigrant experience,” “culture clash,” or “aspiring actress” (all of which I have now added to the page).

Just for contrast, the plot keywords that show up on the IMDb page for Captain America: The Winter Soldier — these are just the first, there are many more — are:

“Soldier. “Secret government organization.” “Hospital.” “Government agent.” “Deception.”

Nowhere on the full list of user-supplied keywords — at this moment, »

- MaryAnn Johanson

9 April 2014 6:51 AM, PDT

Culture clash amplifies the array of life options open for all women, and lends this quietly compelling film an extra layer of difficulty for a young Pakistani-Norwegian woman as she attempts to navigate them. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Mina (Amrita Acharia: Game of Thrones) is a 20something single mother in Oslo, coping with some of the trials and tribulations of any young woman in her position, though not all. Her son, Felix (Prince Singh), who’s about six, is a delight; she seems to have a pretty good relationship with Felix’s dad, her ex (Assad Siddique), and even gets along with his new wife (Sara Khorami), who adores Felix and vice versa. Her career — she’s trying to be an actress — isn’t going so well, however, and of course there is »

- MaryAnn Johanson

8 April 2014 3:35 PM, PDT

Builds up a good momentum of suspense only to throw it away on a rushed and powerfully unsatisfying ending, rendering all its preposterousness suddenly unforgivable. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

World-famous classical concert pianist Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood: The Wind Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) hasn’t been in front of an audience in five years, after a performance went, apparently, so disastrously wrong that classical music nerds are still talking about it. But his movie star wife, Emma (Kerry Bishé: The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Argo), has arranged a comeback. And as if Tom weren’t already nervous enough, when he opens his sheet music — you know, the kind that I’m pretty sure world-famous classical concert pianists don’t use onstage in the same way that actors onstage don’t »

- MaryAnn Johanson

8 April 2014 2:23 PM, PDT

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

streaming now, while it’s still in theaters

The Unknown Known: documentary interview with Bush-era insider Don Rumsfeld is like a horror movie with a calm sociopath at its center [at Amazon Instant Video]

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

Great Expectations: a lively, vibrant retelling that feels very modern, with none of the stuffiness of a traditional costume drama [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video] Philomena: a cry-till-you-laugh-dramedy about seeking lost family and finding new purpose; Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are fantastic; seriously, though: bring Kleenex [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video]

streaming now, before it’s in theaters

The Machine: the bleak chic of this Sf drama is intriguing, but the script that starts out smart and elegant soon slips into the shoddy and familiar [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video]

new to Prime

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan: Khaaaaaaaaaaaannnn!!!!!! [at Amazon Instant Video] Valkyrie: Tom Cruise versus Nazis! [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video]

new to stream

Crouching Tiger, »

- MaryAnn Johanson

8 April 2014 10:53 AM, PDT

An enlightening portrait of 12 adults from across the autistic spectrum that sheds some much needed light on a subculture that could do with some demystifying. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

April is Autism Awareness Month in the United States, but while autism is something that families and schools and pediatricians are dealing with at ever increasing rates, there isn’t much awareness of neuro-atypicalness in pop culture. Rain Man — now more than a quarter of a century old — is probably still the film that first comes to mind for “autism in pop culture,” though there have been a few recent films with protagonists whom we might suspect are on the autism spectrum, though it’s never mentioned: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, for two.

So documentarian William Davenport »

- MaryAnn Johanson

7 April 2014 9:49 AM, PDT

(previous: Season 3)

Ooo, Jaime got a haircut and a new sword.

And a new hand! (Though he still won’t be able to pull that Inigo Montoya “I am not lefthanded” trick anymore. Ah, I wonder who would win in a swordfight: Jaime or Inigo?) I had almost thought I was going to have to write something about how Jaime is the only one of his children that Tywin is nice to, and then Tywin had to go and try to kick Jaime out of the King’s Guard. So I still have nothing complimentary to say about Tywin.

I wonder if it’s hard for Jaime to refrain from dispensing a fatherly throttling to Joffrey when he’s being a brat, like in the scene later with Joffrey, when the kid scoffs through the whole meeting about security plans for the wedding, and then scoffs some more at the »

- MaryAnn Johanson

7 April 2014 6:20 AM, PDT

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

new to stream

Tarzan: Disney’s glorious 1999 animated version, and the last film of the Disney Renaissance [my review] [at Netflix]

I caught up with…

La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus: follow a humble yellow school bus as it is transformed into something joyous and defiant; it’s like discovering that your grandma has another life as a secret agent [my review] [at Netflix]

new to streaming

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Smaug is a magnificent cinematic creation… but there’s no good reason it takes so damn long to get to him [my review] [at Amazon UK Instant Video]

new to Prime

Byzantium: acclaimed director Neil Jordan takes on vampire horror, and finds a hard-edged feminism in a new mythology of the bloodsuckers [at Amazon UK Instant Video] The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: kooky-cutesy dramedy about British pensioners who retire to India, where they can »

- MaryAnn Johanson

15 articles

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