What I got, over the first thirty minutes, anyway: A woman abducted, electrically shocked into unconsciousness, drugged through being forcefed a worm, woken into a worm-induced state of acquiescence, forced through said state to sign over money she doesn’t really have, and then dumped,a discarded cheeseburger wrapper from a buffet of bizarre crime. Continue reading “Upstream Color” Ups the Dose but Not Much Else
In To the Wonder, Terrence Malick tilts his camera so the scenery outside the train’s window tilts — a jet caught right at takeoff — and the two people don’t seem to tilt at all. Malick plays with perception to catch giddiness, those arms-thrown-back-eyes-closed moments where you splash in your own absurdity. Continue reading Malick’s “To The Wonder” Demonstrates Power in the Union
“On My Own,” the penultimate track, drops into a half-time drag-and-pound guitar-twitchfest making you hear what Robert Plant heard in this bunch when he covered two of their songs. Continue reading Sub Pop Band Low Goes Where Country Should Go
Kiraostami’s one of the few directors (try finding one inside Hollywood) who trusts his viewers to have a brain: It’s as gobsmacking as that. Kiraostami likes to cut cross-sections into people’s lives, but he doesn’t like to backtrack or future-trip. He wants you to figure things out for yourself and if you have to surmount that to make your own meanings, that’s okay too. Continue reading “Like Someone In Love” Has Wings, Doesn’t Bump Into Things
Ginger Baker is a member of that very special club: Things that kill ordinary people, don’t kill him […] But he just keeps muttering, cursing, and tossing off bon mots. Continue reading Beware Of Mr. Baker (Never Mind About the Dogs)
I caught Denzel Washington in Flight this weekend, another powerful story of an out-of-control addict. But Washington’s struggle, by the end, was the struggle to become honest. Barrymore, at least in Barrymore, struggles to stay alive. Don’t expect honesty from him, except accidentally. Continue reading Now Is The Barrymore Of Our Discontent…
They’ve cleaned Hitch up, but they can’t grant him potency. Hannibal became a man of action the minute he popped those cuffs: Hitch can only watch. Continue reading In Hitchcock, The Knife Doesn’t Exactly Feel Like Justice…
