Jun 10, 2011 Cinema #36 - Music vs. Comedy

Director Michael Winterbottom's The Trip is a rather audacious conceit—equal parts Sideways, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Extras. Comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon ostensibly portray themselves, although grossly exaggerated cartoon versions, as Brydon joins Coogan at the last minute when his girlfriend backs out of a food-tasting trip across northern Britain. More

May 25, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

If there is a most entertaining part of Hobo with a Shotgun, it undoubtedly lies within the cache of its backstory. Originally a fake teaser before it was a feature film, the abbreviated Hobo was entered into (and won) a 2007 contest to promote Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse collaboration. More

May 20, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

With 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona—Woody Allen's second box office hit of the 2000s—he embraced the sensual atmosphere of the locale, the sexiness of the film's stars, and rediscovered a common ground for his comedy and his romantic spirit. That common ground remains just as fertile in his latest film, the comedic fantasy Midnight in Paris, Allen's most entertaining work in over a decade. More

May 19, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

After a hiatus that stretched from the late '70s to the late '90s, Texas-bred director Terrence Malick has aimed big in his return to filmmaking. He cast his nature-adoring lens upon WWII with The Thin Red Line (1999), the founding of America's first settlement with The New World (2005), and now, with The Tree of Life, Malick's fifth feature film in a span of 38 years, he has super-sized to tackle life itself—not just plain old human life; we're talking the birth of the universe as well. More

May 13, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

Thirteen-year-old TJ, played marvelously by Devin Brochu, leads a childhood-crushing existence More

May 13, 2011 Cinema

Everything Must Go is the story of a man forced to let the neighbors see the shame and detritus of his life not through the living room window, but out in the open. More

Apr 01, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

An opening shot of wooden chairs strewn upright along a desert road. A man standing, holding bunches of pairs of binoculars, obviously waiting for someone. A car appears, knocks down each of the chairs, stops, and an officer of the law emerges —from the trunk. What could all of this mean? Rubber amusingly addresses, early on, the lack of a reason for the inclusion or omission of certain elements of movies, and then launches into its own series of events for your consideration. More

Mar 24, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

Zack Snyder's action-fantasy Sucker Punch, which has looked somewhat promising in promos for its otherworldly visuals and strong females figures, is one of those instantly disappointing films where the first five minutes foreshadow how bad the rest is going to be. More

Feb 11, 2011 Cinema Web Exclusive

As disappointing as it is to miss the beginning of a film in a theater, there's something especially satisfying about discovering a movie while channel surfing on TV. Two of the funniest films I know, This Is Spinal Tap and Office Space, I was only vaguely aware of before landing upon them in progress on cable TV. The few minutes it took me to identify the films, without checking the TV guide, provided a tantalizing mix of disorientation and amusement. Something similar happened to me last summer when I attended the Los Angeles Film Festival and stumbled upon writer/director Aaron Katz's Cold Weather, my favorite film of the fest. More