Based on Lynn Barber’s memoir, An Education plays out rather like a diary read. When you write of exciting moments in your life, you don’t need to elaborate on certain things, like best friends’ names or schoolwork, and this film doesn’t bother to either. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is a schoolgirl, almost but not [...]

Not unlike its inevitable comparison film, The Blair Witch Project, one of the most exciting things about Paranormal Activity is how while you are watching it, it feels real enough that you feel unsure whether it’s a movie or a found-footage presentation.  I dissected various actions and moments in the film, searching for the cinematic [...]

So close on the heel of one personal film (Where The Wild Things Are) comes this very, very personal film from the Coen brothers. So personal, I never felt a part of it. I have come to be a fan of Joel and Ethan Coen over the years, appreciating their taste for regional [...]

Ricky Gervais was himself reason enough to see the Invention of Lying, but I was also interested by the premise.  Without having given it much thought before entering the theatre, while watching, I was perpetually reminded of the fruitful nature of what seems so simple: In a world where no one is capable of uttering [...]

You know how Hollywood sometimes puts out two of the same movies in one year, like animated ants or volcanos or meteors?  The premise of Surrogates is kind of like that of Gamer, an idea that feels like an inevitable future, based on the truth of what we know about how avatars are used even [...]

This movie is the sort of movie that sends me to the keyboard to topple negative expectations, praise the participants, and hopefully drive up their box office a little. I know that Robin Williams has done some insufferable things in recent years, but remember him in The Fisher King? One Hour Photo? [...]

Mike Judge’s forte has always been finding the beauty and absurdity in simple, regular folk. From Beavis & Butthead through Idiocracy, and of course cult favorite Office Space, Judge pokes at the stupid things that well-intentioned people can do, and the petty evils we all visit upon each other just trying to get by. [...]

High concept movies are difficult beasts to tame.  Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are immediate analogs to Cold Souls in being inside-out explorations of the metaphysical.  (Do familiarize yourself with both of these films if you have not already.)  Cold Souls deals with the idea of a person willfully removing [...]

I was nervous about seeing Inglourious Basterds because of late, director Quentin Tarantino has been kind of a turn off for me; also the preview looked more violent than even my desensitized action-movie-loving self could stomach. I was pleasantly surprised by a 97% mature, solid, suspenseful, respectful, artistic movie. I’ll go ahead and [...]

District 9
Matinee with Snacks
The early previews of District 9 looked like a dark update of Alien Nation – visitors come and can’t leave so we take them in and let’s see what that’s like.  The previews are deceptive.  That may be what Act I of District 9 is about, but certainly not the real story.  [...]