Javier Bardem | Coosa Creek Cinema

Undershadowed: Love in the Time of Cholera

By Rick, on February 15th, 2009 |

Javier Bardem

I hope my friend Bill over at The Kind of Face You Hate will forgive me, but I couldn’t resist titling this post after one of his series. But whereas his Overshadowed features films that have outstripped their literary underpinnings, Mike Newel’s adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera [...]

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

By Rick, on August 31st, 2008 |

Here’s a riddle: how many characters does it take to make a Woody Allen? Judging from Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the answer is two: one blond and one brunette. The blonde (Scarlett Johannson) is Cristina and the brunette (Rebecca Hall) is Vicky, two Americans spending the summer in Barcelona. While there, they are hustled by Juan [...]

Further Ruminations on No Country for Old Men

By Rick, on December 29th, 2007 |

Randomness—and it’s handmaiden nothingness—looms large in Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest film No Country for Old Men. From the opening shots of empty space to the abrupt cut to black at its end, No Country for Old Men relentlessly portrays its consequences and effects. This is most explicit in bizarre games of chance between [...]