The White Tiger is the cheekiest movie of director Ramin Bahrani’s career. It even has one of those in media res, freeze frame, “Yup, that’s me, you’re probably wondering…” type of openings. But there’s a dark side to the playfulness....
In comedy, there’s this term “clapter.” It describes what happens when a comedian gains an audience’s approval by declaring something with which they are sure to agree instead of by saying funny things. The audience claps instead of laughing. Comedians...
Julia Hart is a director of such immediately evident skill, it’s hard not to worry that she’ll soon be another independent filmmaker who gets churned up in some major franchise assembly line. Truthfully, she already made her studio debut earlier...
Generally, the “Western” category of movies refers to those that take place in hard-bitten, arid landscapes where the Industrial Age hasn’t quite arrived yet. Thomas Bezucha’s Let Him Go doesn’t meet the temporal requirement, taking place sometime around 1960. But...
Recently, for this sporadic, nebulously defined column, I wrote (not entirely favorably) about Penny Marshall’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash. It got me thinking about a movie from a couple years earlier, one whose success was no doubt a partial inspiration for...
If you’re watching Jeanette Nordahl’s Wildland and you can’t quite put your finger on what’s so familiar about it–and you also haven’t read a single other review of it, as they’ve all pointed out this comparison without fail–it’s because the...
The Prophecy has a really cool premise–angels seeking an edge over other angels to win the second war in Heaven!–and some enjoyable campy performances but is a badly disjointed film (whether that’s because of its first-time director or meddling from the...
Title: Masks Year: 1987 Director: Claude Chabrol Cast: Philippe Noirot, Anne Brochet, Robin Renucci Synopsis: Author Roland Wolf (Renucci) is hired by famous game show host Christian Legagneur (Noiret) to pen his biography. However, Wolfe is using the gig as...
Unlike some films (here’s looking at you, The Usual Suspects), Frailty holds up very well on a second viewing, probably because there’s more to it than just the twist, like the honest depiction of emotional abuse and the culmination of the film’s cynical...
Two early scenes in Antonio Campos’ bold, bizarre and destined to be misunderstood The Devil All the Time introduce the dichotomy the film aims to bridge. In one, a small town waitress named Charlotte (Haley Bennett) sneaks some food out...