This masterful balancing act of docudrama and morality tragedy is set in 2010, but we aren’t given that date until more than halfway through. It doesn’t matter, as the events of the film—taking place in Orlando, Florida—could be taking place right now. This goes to show how in the moment and forceful Ramin Bahrani’s […]
There’s a sequence in the narco thriller Sicario where we’re just watching characters driving. More specifically, it’s protagonist Kate (Emily Blunt) in a big black SUV in the midst of other big black SUVs and Mexican police patrol cars barreling through Juarez, Mexico. They’re transporting a criminal kingpin who’s part of a Mexican drug […]
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
Produced by Signe Byrge Sorensen
Released by Drafthouse Films/Participant Media
Indonesian and Javanese, with English subtitles
103 min. Rated PG-13
If you happened to have seen The Act of Killing when it was released two years ago (and subsequently earned an Oscar nomination, which it should’ve won) or on Netflix, you witnessed something that hasn’t […]
Directed by John McNaughton
Written by Stephen Lancellotti
Produced by Kim Jose, David Robinson, Steven A. Jones and Marshall T
Released by IFC Midnight
USA. 103 min. Not rated
With Samantha Morton, Michael Shannon, Meadow Williams, Charlie Tahan, Leslie Lyles, Natasha Calis, and Peter Fonda
Parents just want what’s best for their children, don’t they? Such is the thinking of Katherine […]
Directed by Wim Wenders & Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
Screenplay by Wenders, Salgado and David Rosier
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
English, French, and Portuguese with English subtitles
France/Brazil/Italy. 109 min. Rated PG-13
At times while watching photographer Sebastião Salgado in Wim Wenders’ latest documentary (in collaboration with the subject’s son, Juliano), you wonder how Salgado could take what he saw […]
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Produced by Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Peter Morgan, and Bradley Cooper
Written by Jason Hall, from the book by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice
Released by Warner Brothers Pictures
USA. 134 min. Rated R
With Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Kevin Lacz, and Cory Hardrict
At more than one point, in […]
Written and Directed by Damiel Chazelle
Produced by Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster, and Michel Litvak
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
USA. 105 min. Rated R
With Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, and Paul Reiser
Possibly the most intense/best film of the year, Whiplash appears to have been made for a niche audience. But who rushes out […]
Written and Directed by Paul Schrader
Produced by Jason Gandhi
Released by Lionsgate
USA. 94 min. Rated R
With Nicolas Cage, Anton Yelchin, Alexander Karim, Irène Jacob, Aymen Hamdouchi, Claudius Peters, and Adetomiwa Edun
I almost wish I didn’t know the circumstances surrounding the post-production and release of Dying of the Light, which is advertised as being written and directed […]
Written and Directed by Sion Sono
Produced by:Takeshi Suzuki, Takuyuki Matsuno, Sadai Yuji
Released by Drafthouse Films
Japanese with English subtitles
Japan. 130 min. Not rated
With Jun Kunimura, Fumi Nikaido, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hiroki Hasegawa, and Gen Hoshino
Right away you know that Sion Sono—previously of Love Exposure and Cold Fish—isn’t going to play it straight. The Fuck Bombers, a film […]
