Over the next couple months, you will probably hear the phrase “Well Boyhood dominated…” or “Boyhood sweeps ‘insert critics group or award show’.” Rightfully, so! Yesterday the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) anointed Boyhood with 3 wins, Best Film, Best Director-Richard Linklater, and Best Supporting Actress-Patricia Arquette. The only other film to win multiple […]
Steve James’ documentary about Roger Ebert- filmed in the last few weeks of his life and release after his death- moved me more than any other movie in 2014 so far. The scenes shot in the hospital are harrowing, the unbelievable strength of Roger’s wife Chaz is inspiring, and the film’s dedication to portraying the […]
I know what you are thinking, yes its only September, but with festival circuit in full swing, Telluride, Venice, and Toronto, it’s time to start talking about and predicting this year’s Oscar contenders. I have held back as long as I can. The earliest “serious” contender came from the Cannes Film Festival, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher […]
The statistic all over the Internet, troubling studio executives and producers of the world, is the domestic summer box office was down 14.6 percent from last year. Some films found footing in this drought, especially good movies. I think there are lessons to be learned that could help change things, but will anyone listen? Make […]
Girls with glasses sure would be beautiful if they didn’t wear glasses, huh? That’s what the movies would have you believe, anyway. You all know what I’m talking about. It’s a classic movie trope: the bookish, plain-looking girl with glasses is picked on by everyone because she wears glasses and she’s so boring. But one […]
I thought a lot about the lighter side of male privilege while watching Obvious Child. As a woman obsessed with social justice (especially the particular form of social justice that populates opinion pieces on sites like Jezebel and HuffPost), I spend a lot of time thinking about privilege and it’s dark implications. This is not […]
“Choose the form of the Destructor!” So spake Gozer the Gozerian during the climactic scene of Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters found themselves atop Dana Barrett’s apartment building, prepared for an epic battle with supernatural forces, and poor Ray Stantz couldn’t help himself. He was only thinking of the most innocuous memory from his childhood—the Stay Puft […]
A lot of think pieces have been written about the declining necessity of movie theaters. They make my blood boil a little bit. I love the movie theater. Basically, every time I sit down in a movie theater feels like the goofy, pre-AMC-movie video where the kids are transported into a magical world while still […]