Posts Tagged ‘ Film ’

Bad Movie Mojo

Mar 23rd, 2008 | By Rick | Category: Analysis and Comment

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

Jan 27th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: Analysis and Comment, Short Take

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

Jan 22nd, 2008 | By Rick | Category: News & Comment

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

Jan 19th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: News & Comment

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

Jan 14th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: Analysis and Comment, Ingmar Bergman

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

Jan 14th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: News & Comment

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

Jan 8th, 2008 | By Rick | Category: Reviews

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

Jan 3rd, 2008 | By Rick | Category: Short Take

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

Jan 2nd, 2008 | By Rick | Category: News & Comment

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

Dec 30th, 2007 | By Rick | Category: News & Comment

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 [...]