“Side by Side” should be required viewing in any film school worth its salt and, undoubtedly, will be.
But as up-to-the-minute as it is, by next year, it undoubtedly will be dated. And, before long, it will be a curiosity.
Why? Because director Christopher Kenneally goes directly at the question of whether emulsion film – the standard for the first 100 years of motion-picture making – is about to be replaced by digital technology. (More…)
Is it really so hard to make a funny, dirty sex comedy?
Apparently so, judging from the recent, brain-dead “The Babymakers” – and now the laugh-challenged “For a Good Time, Call…” Not only isn’t it funny – it’s not sexy, either. (More…)
Mike Birbiglia seems like an easy-going guy, someone who probably has a little trouble with confrontation or sticking up for himself.
At least that’s how he comes off in “Sleepwalk With Me,” the film version of his hit one-man show that played off-Broadway for almost a year, opening in limited release Friday (8/24/12). In this version, his character has been renamed Matt Pandamiglio – but, as he says at the film’s start, this is a true story. (More…)
The title of Dax Shepard’s “Hit & Run” doesn’t really make sense, given the movie itself. If it implies car chases, well, that’s accurate – but, again, it’s not about accidents.
The only thing accidental here is that this movie got made – and they seem to have done that on purpose. Why? Apparently, to give Shepard a chance to work with his pals – Bradley Cooper, David Koechner, Tom Arnold – and his wife (Kristin Bell), while directing a movie himself (in tandem with pal David Palmer). (More…)
There is something magical about “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.” But not, unfortunately, magical enough.
For a fable like this to work, you need a vision sharp enough, created with enough heart and wit, to brush aside complaints about its fantastic plot – fantastic in the sense of being rooted in fantasy, while maintaining a realistic setting. (More…)
“Why Stop Now” boasts such a diverse cast of recognizable faces that you have to wonder where it all went wrong.
A strange blend of comedy and drama that never quite jells, the film was cowritten and codirected by Ron Nyswaner (an Oscar nominee for “Philadelphia”) and newcomer Phil Dorling. It offers a cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, Tracy Morgan and Isiah Whitlock Jr., and a familiar template – one big, eventful day in which the central character has a life-changing appointment and a ton of obstacles in the way of keeping it. (More…)
A caper film whose biggest thief is actually the inexorable flow of time, “Robot & Frank” is a terrific character study that offers the always-captivating Frank Langella the opportunity to stretch out a little bit.
Though Jake Schreier’s film, from a script by Christopher Ford, builds to a contrived climax, it offers food for thought: about the nature of friendship and the impermanence of memory. In the end, it offers a bittersweet final note, thanks to the carefully shaded performance by Langella, in his best role since the unfortunately little-seen “Starting Out in the Evening.” (More…)
Craig Zobel’s “Compliance” may be the creepiest movie of the year. It has no physical violence, no sex, barely even a raised voice – and yet it burrows into your brain and keeps burrowing, the longer you watch. (More…)
