I love time travel movies. They are fun, they can be great, and they can be silly. I believe they exist in their own genre, and not necessarily a subset of science-fiction, since many exist without any scientific rationale and or weird time traveling equipment. Many are built on the case of a single what-if. What if I could go back in time but only if I am naked like in The Terminator (1984) or what if I could travel back in…
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) Don’t let the title fool you, this high school drama is no tear-jerk after-school-special. This independent low budget film is as well directed, acted, and written as any film you are likely to see and my favorite this year. Me/Earl/Girl chronicles two high school co-workers (not friends) who dabble in creating mash-up versions of classic movies. Their lives are thrown into chaos when Greg’s mom, Greg is the titular Me, ask him to spend some…
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) A girl walks home alone, a boy searches for his stolen cat, a drug addict jones for a fix, and a drug dealer mistreat everyone he meets. Also a strange quiet girl might be a vampire. If this is your first foray into contemporary Iranian cinema you might be a little confused by this quiet/still/strange little black-and-white film, but stick with it and your time investment will be shortly repaid. This film…
Mumford (1999) A long time ago in a town not so far away there lived an unusual man. This man was a great listener and if you met him you might feel so comfortable you would tell him your troubles. The fact that he was a psychologist and was paid to listen is just a happy coincidence. Mumford stars Loren Dean, Hope Davis and a young Zooey Deschanel in this unusual tale of a psychologist and an odd little pacific northwest town….
The Babadook (2014) If Dr. Seuss and Edgar Allan Poe combined forces to publish a children’s book it would be The Babadook. A fiendishly clever pop-up book in all black and white that tells of a dark force called Mister Babadook that won’t leave after entering your house. This book appears among the stacks of bedtime books and is accidentaly read by the mother. The mother and son never make it through the first reading when little Samuel is scared half-to-death…
Boyhood (2014) The critics all loved Boyhood, and for once they’re not wrong. The director Richard Linklater took 12 years to make a movie that has the look and feel of a documentary, but is very much a work of fiction. It feels like non-fiction because it contains much drama, but very little plot. At almost three hours running time it was a little long, but worth the effort. Linklater’s experiment involved taking a six year old male actor and filming him…
I reviewed Stories We Tell last year and now it’s Streaming on Netflix. The Review can be found here and the movie can be found here. It’s a powerful documentary about the power of narrative and how we turn life into coherent stories. Sam
Gone Girl (2014) Why would anyone want to get married? Love, right? Children, could be. Money, yes there are financial advantages. Sex, certainly. Fear, maybe. Fear of being alone? Balanced against the fear of loss of independence? The big question is this “Is this person really who they say they are?” After watching Gone Girl most married people will probably sleep with one eye open and one foot on the floor. If a couple is planning a wedding they might just…
Begin Again My constant struggle in talking about movies is giving enough information to encourage viewing, while not spoiling the fun bits that are so much more enjoyable when you don’t know they’re coming. The trailer for this movie gives away some good moments, but not all of them, so if you see it fine, if you don’t see it, that’s even better. Unfortunately it’s insufficient to say “Please go see this movie,” and leave it at that. You will want to know…
Maleficent Bad guys wear black, are ugly, torture small animals, and are just downright mean, right? When someone’s name actually means evil, you should be able to count on them to be 100% despicable. But these days everything is complicated, without blacks and whites, just shades of gray. Good guys have bad habits, and bad guys are likable and have a backstory that explains, if not justifies, their evil ways. This new retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty shines the spotlight on…