Hail, Caesar! is a big, luscious, gorgeous ode to the Golden Age of Hollywood—a certain kind of Hollywood, at any rate. It’s a work that is great and minor at the same time. It has a passable central plot while everything else around it, all of the moving parts, is wonderful and hysterically funny and often […]
The whiplash camera work of a faux-documentary. Actors breaking the fourth wall, staring straight into the camera with a what-the-hell bemused expression. All this plus the underlying cynicism with a smirk will immediately remind viewers of top TV fare such as the American version of The Office. As if on cue, that series’ star, Steve […]
The festival Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema, screening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center from December 2-8, is celebrating its 10th edition, and is using this milestone as an occasion to look back on the Romanian New Wave, which, of course by now, is not so new. Besides its usual focus on recent films—which […]
Brooklyn hipsters living in their narcissistic bubble in gentrifying neighborhoods are a timely target for satire. Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Silva now lives in such a changing community, and his Nasty Baby is pitch-perfect at capturing his and his ilk’s worst pettiness, condescension, and isolation from those who came before them into their brave new politically […]
Written and Directed by Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers Released by Orion Releasing USA. 95 min. Rated R With Bridey Elliott, Clare McNulty, Neil Casey, Reggie Watts, Peter Vack, Jeffrey Scaperrotta, Griffin Newman, Desireé Nash, and Becky Yamamoto First-time directors Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers take a biting look at the Millennial Generation, using a […]
Directed by Shira Piven Produced by Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Aaron L. Gilbert and Adam McKay Written by Eliot Laurence Released by Alchemy USA. 105 min. Rated R With Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, Linda Cardellini, Wes Bentley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Robbins, and Joan Cusack There’s something to be said for originality, which this Kristen […]
Directed by David Cronenberg Produced by Martin Katz and Saïd Ben Saïd Written by Bruce Wagner Released by Focus World Canada/Germany/France/USA. 111 min. Rated R With Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams, Evan Bird, Sarah Gadon, Niamh Wilson, Dawn Greenhalgh, John Cusack, and Robert Pattinson There comes a time in skilled directors get to do […]
Written and Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi Produced by Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley, and Emanuel Michael. New Zealand. 87 min. Not rated Released by Unison Films/Paladin With Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie Van Beek You would think that it would be far too late to breathe life in […]
Directed by Roberto Andò Produced by Angelo Barbagallo Written by Andò and Angelo Pasqune, based on the novel Il Trono Vuoto by Andò Released by Distrib Films Italy. 94 min. Not Rated With Toni Servillo, Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Michela Cescon, and Anna Bonaiuto This shape-shifting political drama-cum-satire begins in a staid, stately fashion […]