Remember how action movies used to be? The good old-fashioned American (but often European-accented) ones from the ’80s and ’90s, the type paid tribute to (but not necessarily re-created) in the Expendables movies? No offense to your Iron Men and your Jason Bournes, but I miss movies like Die Hard,…
One of the most interesting things about Cosmopolis, writer/director David Cronenberg’s extraordinary adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel by the same name, is that it’s based on the first script Cronenberg has both written and shot since 1999’s eXistenZ. Additionally, Cronenberg’s adaptation of Cosmopolis marks the first time he has adapted…
David Koepp writes, and now directs, superior B-movies. This is an admirable and tough-to-master skill given how few major movie studios are willing to take chances on films with lower budgets that don’t employ a found-footage gimmick or generally look like they were made on an aglet-less shoestring budget. So…
The movie of choice this week for people who hold the beliefs that A) America is the strongest, best-est country that God ever virgin-birthed and B) that that nation somehow just isn’t strong enough to survive eight years of centrist Democratic leadership, Dinesh D’Souza’s 2016: Obama’s America actually does not…
See also: Scottsdale 6 Drive-in Theater Closes; is Featured in Upcoming Exhibition by William LeGoullon The drive-in movie is a quickly dwindling pastime in Arizona. Since the early 40’s, Arizona has seen the openings and closings of nearly 50 outdoor theaters, including the Rodeo Drive-In and the DeAnza Drive-In. Today,…
If you’ve ever sought out spiritual enlightenment or been dragged to a hot yoga studio where some guy in his underwear is chanting what sounds to be the Eastern version of Do-Re-Mi, then you’ve probably asked yourself some of the same questions as New York-based filmmaker, Vikram Gandhi. Vikram Gandhi’s…
In Celeste and Jesse Forever, the titular, newly separated female protagonist’s un-flamboyant queer co-worker (Elijah Wood) tells her “it’s time get your fuck on,” and then apologizes: “Sorry, I was trying to be your saucy gay friend.” Co-written by and starring Parks and Rec’s Rashida Jones, Forever is a notably…
In terms of looks, charisma, and talent, Rashida Jones should have been a star a long time ago. But in terms of what she’s ready to offer Hollywood (and what Hollywood finally might be ready to let her accomplish), her belated ascent seems well-timed. Bittersweet breakup comedy Celeste and Jesse…
In anticipation of the remake of the 1976 girl-group melodrama Sparkle — Whitney Houston’s posthumous film appearance and her return to movies after a 15-year absence — we look back at the handful of celluloid performances by the woman once known as ” the Voice.” Houston’s pipes certainly get a…
“My son is sick right now, covered in zits. It’s not contagious — I mean, it’s contagious, but don’t worry: Grownups don’t catch it. It’s called mouth-foot-and-butt disease or something.” Julie Delpy materializes on the patio of Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont on a wave of nervous energy. Hair pinned up away…
“It’s a hard world to be different in,” says Cindy Green (Jennifer Garner) to her Pinterest/vision-board child Timothy (CJ Adams) while trying to explain why he must cover up the leaves that sprout on his legs. “Lots of people hate anything that’s different.” That hammer-to-nail, nutshelled life lesson is one…
See also: Ruby Sparks: Finally, the Fantasy Girlfriend Is Fiction See also: Scottsdale International Film Festival Announces 2012 Lineup Sometimes a movie screens for one night only, and other times it shows for weeks, even months. That’s why when it comes to Valley moviegoing, planning ahead is crucial. Planners that…
The Campaign begins with an on-screen quote attributed to Ross Perot: “War has rules. Mud wrestling has rules. Politics has no rules.” The Texas billionaire/private-campaign-financing pioneer dropped this truism not during his historic third-party run for the presidency in 1992, but in the midst of his far less-successful 1996 campaign…
The Bourne films have more than just overstayed their welcome and outlasted the Ludlum books — they’ve been Van Halenized, with an abrupt change of frontman and a resulting dip in personality. The only big-ass popcorn franchise of the past decade not to have been spawned on computers, the series…
Chinese artist, activist, and antagonist Ai Weiwei became a worldwide cause célèbre last April when he was arrested by authorities at the Beijing Airport, detained in an undisclosed location for nearly three months, and released after allegedly confessing to tax evasion. The Sundance-feted documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry concludes shortly…
“I don’t want to give you lessons in self-denial and social responsibility,” an art dealer tells her billionaire boy client in Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis, by way of refusing to entertain his demand to buy the Rothko Chapel. “Because I don’t believe for a second you’re as crude as you sound.”…
Just because it made loads of money, stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, and features a three-titted mutant doesn’t mean Total Recall isn’t ruggedly individualistic art. Just look at its outsider pedigree: Total Recall was loosely based on a 1966 short story from the flushed mind of Philip K. Dick, produced by the…
It’s one of the most cherished legends of the American indie: A socially retarded ugly duck, despite making no effort to regulate his glaring emotional hang-ups, is discovered as a swan by a clearly out-of-his-league girl who loves him just the way he is. Buffalo ’66 (1999) and Punch-Drunk Love…
Red Lights aspires to be a genre movie of ideas. Like a great number of films dealing with supernatural and extraterrestrial phenomena, it’s a thriller in which suspense depends on keeping both viewer and protagonist teetering, in the face of the unexplained, between rational agnosticism and faithful credulity. By the…
Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda always has been an astute, patient observer of human behavior, but between 2004’s Nobody Knows — about four kids abandoned by their flaky mother — and his new film, I Wish, his greatest gift as a filmmaker seems to be his capacity to work with children. Koreeda…
See also: Aurora Shooting coverage on our sister publication, Westword Screenings of Warner Brother’s Batman: The Dark Knight Rises continue at theaters around the country while investigators, law enforcement, and the community of Aurora, Colorado attempt to piece together details and motive behind the mass shooting inside a movie theater…
See also: Aurora Shooting coverage on our sister publication, Westword A mass shooting took place last night during a midnight screening of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. While initial reports stated 14 people had died, authorities have lowered the number to 12, with at least 50…
