Archive | July 2013
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Flashback: on 1983’s Superman III
We’ve been watching a lot of Superman in my house this summer due to the release of the blockbuster “Man of Steel” last month. My eight year-old and I weren’t all that crazy about the latest film version about Krypton’s favorite son, but we didn’t despise it either(you can read the review in the June […]
“Passion” cast album…reviewed!
They almost couldn’t get this one recorded. And even though it was finally released by PS Classics this month, it was without the original Clara—just as it was when I visited the Sondheim musical off-Broadway in April. The wonderful Melissa Errico, the opening night Clara subsequently sidelined by vocal issues on March 21st, was unable […]
The Cronenberg Chronicle-Phase Sixteen: Fast Company (1979)
“How the heck does this one fit?”, many will be inclined to asked. I’ve struggled with it for years myself, but I’ve come to terms with it most recently. By making a loose connection to the director’s 1996 “Crash”, “Fast Company” goes down a hell of a lot easier. You see, David Cronenberg loves cars. As proof, […]
Beneath
It was almost impossible for me to contain my excitement when I accidentally discovered, a few months ago, that horror maestro Larry Fessenden was directing a brand new feature. WHO, you say? Well, only the man responsible for a pair of the finest examples of the genre from last decade! 2002’s minimalist “Wendigo” and 2007’s […]
The Gatekeepers
The case can easily be made that Dror Moreh’s “The Gatekeepers” should’ve been the winner of the 2012 Best Documentary Feature Academy Award. Maybe so, but I’ll tell you this—I wouldn’t have wanted to be on that jury. It was such a fine field of non-fiction explorations nominated at last February’s ceremony, that I’m not […]
“The Wolf of Wall Street”…Scorsese’s return to form?
I did not like “Hugo” and I still can’t understand the fuss over it. It’s been discussed in more detail in past entries on the blog, so I’ll leave it at my belief that it is one of Scorsese’s few not worthwhile films. Same for 2010’s “Shutter Island”. Again, it’s overstuffed and underwhelming—yet has somehow […]
Pacific Rim IMAX 3D
It’s been a long wait. And, despite some shortcomings, I’m going to deem it worth it. At least in the format that I experienced it in, which was my first ever IMAX 3D. 300 foot robots, battling 300 foot lizards, on a huge screen with pulsating sound, and images reaching out to almost touch you? […]
No
It lost to “Amour” this past February for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, and it was the very first Chilean film ever nominated for that honor. And it’s pretty darn good, too. It’s a fictionalized treatment of the very real attempt to oust dictator Augusto Pinochet from serving another […]
Monsters University
I have been working on being kind towards this one, because it is a welcome return of two beloved characters, plus there’s really nothing all that bad about it. It’s a perfectly pleasant diversion—and that’s about it. Did I expect more? Yeah, I guess. Pixar has set the bar high for so many years now that […]
Reviewed by Mark Leonard 