I fell in love with the beauty and power of cinema at a young age. In between reading about films, analyzing films, and pretending my life is a cinematic masterpiece, I can be found peppering conversations with film quotes, and making short comedy videos.
The premise for Criminal is simple: When CIA agent Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) dies in the middle of a mission, a team of doctors and scientists led by the meek Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) “transfer” Pope’s memories to the brain of gravel-voiced sociopathic jailed criminal Jericho Stewart (Kevin Cotsner). This will allow the CIA to use Jericho to draw …
Wim Wenders’ 1972 German-language film The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick was based upon the Peter Handke novel of the same name. It is a steady film that follows a seemingly uninteresting, lonely man who commits a crime and reacts with equal disinterest, thinking only of himself at all times, eventually appearing to…
The Revenant is a work of art by director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. It is visceral, grim, hopeful, beautiful, frightening and joyful. At its core a story of survival and revenge, the film unabashedly comments on humankind’s place and relationship with nature and each other. Set against a breathtaking backdrop of mountains, rivers, trees and…
Tom Hardy’s dual performance in Legend as real-life identical twin gangster brothers Ronald and Reginald Kray is a remarkable one. The film itself, unfortunately, does not live up to its title. Narrated by Reggie’s wife Francis (Emily Browning), we watch as the Kray brothers rule…
I first heard of Krampus when I lived in Vienna, Austria a few years ago. As the cheery Christmas season approached, and as I happily visited Christmas markets and wondered about Viennese traditions, the family I lived with told me with great seriousness of a demonic horned figure who terrified children into being “good”…
Danger. Explosions. Helicopters and airplanes. Beautiful women, beautiful cars, beautiful locations and Bond vs. villain showdowns: Spectre serves up all of these traits we have come to expect and grown to love in the timeless James Bond film series. Unfortunately, Spectre is spoiled by being drawn out and messy, attempting to …
Maurice Pialat’s 1991 Van Gogh is a steady, non-grandiose look at the famous painter’s final 67 days in the beautiful Auvers-sur-Oise, France. The opening shot follows the painter’s hand as he gently runs a paintbrush across a blue canvas; it is a peaceful start to a film which avoids high drama and concludes with similar …
“I hear birds can’t fly this high.” “I hear only angels can.” This exchange during the opening sequence of director McG’s Charlie’s Angels sets the tone for the entire film…
The trailer for Nancy Meyers’ The Intern seems to present the film as solely a comedy, suggesting two hours filled with gaffes and jokes regarding the older generation struggling to fit in with today’s technology-obsessed, socially inept twenty- and thirty-somethings…
Writer and director Leah Yanaton’s Surviving Me: The Nine Circles of Sophie is one of the more realistic cinematic representations of college students’ struggles. It unapologetically, through refreshingly relatable dialogue, costuming and events, examines the difficulties so familiar to undergraduates students …