Film | Coosa Creek Cinema

Bad Movie Mojo

By Rick, on March 23rd, 2008 |

Most folks put a lot of thought into picking their top movies. You see endless top-ten lists, especially in January, but the lists of a viewer’s least favorite flicks — although they do exist — are fewer and further between. Could it be that it’s tougher to pick the worst movies? After [...]

There Will Be Blood: First Impressions

By Rick, on January 27th, 2008 |

One of the distinctive things about the last years in film was the polarizing of bloggers and critics and others around either Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men or Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. I’m not sure what to make of it . . . it seemed that they were [...]

Oscar Nominations

By Rick, on January 22nd, 2008 |

They’re he-ere! What do you think?

Best Picture:

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Actor in a Leading Role

George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)
Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah)
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
Julie Christie [...]

Honeydripper Redux

By Rick, on January 19th, 2008 |

Honeydripper, the new film from indie icon John Sayles, is coming to Alabama. On February 4, at the Bama Theater right here in Tuscaloosa, a reception at 6 pm will be followed by a screening at 7:30 and a Q&A with Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi at 9:30. The film, set in a [...]

Ambiguity and Point of View in Fanny & Alexander

By Rick, on January 14th, 2008 |

Way back in August of ‘07, after the death of Ingmar Bergman, Jonathan Rosenbaum launched an attack on his legacy. Of course, that was his right, and I appreciate Mr. Rosenbaum’s criticism . . . it goes beyond the synopsis-and-a-three-stars-style of many critics. But his attack, which seemed mean-spirited so soon after Bergman’s death, sparked [...]

Up on Coosa Creek, 01-14-08

By Rick, on January 14th, 2008 |

Kim Morgan talks hilariously about her recently-unrequited love of Woody Allen in a point-counterpoint with David Fear:

“To use a trite phrase: Woody Allen, I can’t quit you. I want to take a breather, get a little space, find another existential crisis to attach myself to. But … I’m a sucker.”

Read [...]

Charlie Wilson’s War

By Rick, on January 8th, 2008 |

Mike Nichols isn’t a particularly flashy director. He’s not a flash-in-the-pan, or a lightening rod like P.T. Anderson or Eli Roth, argued about and fought over with great bloggish ferocity. He’s simply a veteran director with over forty years in the business. He first burst onto the stage when he won the [...]

Some of My Favorites of ‘07

By Rick, on January 3rd, 2008 |

Unlike a real critic, I don’t have to go to movies I don’t think I’m going to like. I don’t have an editor assigning me films to review, nor do I feel the need to see everything, so I can warn the public–the members of which don’t listen to critics anyway–not to waste its [...]

Movie City News has an Über List

By Rick, on January 2nd, 2008 |

Movie City News is keeping track of the year-end goings on; they’ve got a Big-Ass Chart (don’t blame me, that’s what they call it) with upwards of 175 critics’ top-ten lists tabulated. By their reckoning, the film with the most cred on critic’s year-end lists is No Country for Old Men, by a long [...]

Southern Film: “Honeydripper” opens in LA and New York

By Rick, on December 30th, 2007 |

John Sayles’ Honeydripper opened in New York and Los Angeles to mixed reviews. Stephen Holden of the New York Times found Sayles’ myth- and archetype-making machinery falling flat:

“‘Honeydripper’ is agreeable, well-intentioned and very, very slow. Sadly, it illustrates the difference between an archetype and a stereotype. When the first falls flat, it turns into [...]