Enduring Love – “Before Midnight” Review

I feel happier with this film in the world…in my life. I’d extend that to include Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, the two previous films in this ongoing romantic experiment. Before Midnight is no less essential.

Tainted Love – “Sightseers” Review

Tina (Alice Lowe), looking like a young Mary McDonnell, is a sheltered mama’s girl. She’s well past the acceptable age to still be living at home. Her mother is cruel. She casually refers to Tina as an accident. But Tina is about to go on holiday with her understanding new boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram). Chris and Tina set off on the world’s most mundane vacation imaginable. They’re taking a camper around to places like a pencil museum. It’s all so very dull until Chris begins murdering complete strangers.

Fine Swine – “Upstream Color” Review

Upstream Color is a great movie. Every single frame of the film hooked me. The entire construction is a marvel of ideas and ingenuity. Shane Carruth’s previous picture was the similarly complex Primer.

Youth in Revolt – “Something in the Air (Apres Mai)” Review

*The film’s original title is Apres Mai which translates to After May. I only mention this because the version I saw had this title still.

Writer/Director Olivier Assayas’ newest and semi-autobiographical film is a time capsule examination of the allure of politics, art, and youth. Set outside Paris in 1971, the story follows Gilles (newcomer Clement Metayer) as he experiences the tumult of the times while struggling to find his path through them. Gilles is involved in the Youth Liberation Movement. He hands out propaganda, partakes in meetings and demonstrations all while still in High School. Gilles is also an aspiring painter with an interest in filmmaking. He’s a lover not a fighter, but nobody bothered to tell him. He’s at odds with himself as much as the movement he belongs to.

Seeds of Dissent – “At Any Price” Review

If you like NASCAR and corn than boy do I have a film for you. Writer/Director Ramin Bahrani’s latest finds him moving away from small stories and non-actors to see what he can accomplish with big names like Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron and a bigger canvas.

The Trouble with Quibbles: Evil Dead

Fede Alvarez’s directorial debut is a smorgasbord of gore. A darker, bleaker, bloodier Evil Dead, Alvarez’s melodramatic interpretation of Sam Raimi’s classic has a group of friends holed up in a cabin in the woods for an intervention when they accidentally unleash an ancient evil after discovering the Book of the Dead.

Vacant – “Room 237″ Review

Room 237 is a feature-length video essay about theories and hidden messages buried inside Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece The Shining. The ideas are presented without commentary from director Rodney Ascher. We hear the people behind the concepts lay out what they think but they’re never seen. What we do see while they blab are either examples from The Shining itself or clips from other films. This compilation of footage is quite impressive on both a technical and a practical level.

Artful Dodger – “Trance” Review

The latest film from Danny Boyle is slick, but it never completely makes up its mind as to whether or not it wants to be sensational fun or aim for higher art. It’s like someone squished together Headhunters, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Inception but left out the shocks, the heart, and a sensible third act. It’s not a total waste. I don’t think any Boyle film is ever without some merit. It’s a disjointed film, which is appropriate considering the hypnosis plot device, but it never commits.

Enter the Void – “Spring Breakers” Review

You know how in Gladiator Russell Crowe is always having visions of his home? He’s wading through wheat and sees his wife and child. Or maybe you remember The Thin Red Line and the soldier dreaming of the love he left? She’s lit like an angel, a perfect vision. In both films, these are the characters’ idyllic ideas of paradise. Well in writer/director Harmony Korine’s new film Spring Breakers the main characters’ idea of heaven is a hedonistic spring break that never ends. The film is an exploration of this thesis writ large in a burst of neon day-glo, breasts, booze, and guns. It’s a movie that can be approached a number of ways, and is sure to be misappropriated left and right, and I think this only makes it more brilliant.

Hail Mary – “Beyond The Hills” Review

This is the second time now writer/director Cristian Mungiu has taken material that sounded dreadful on paper and fashioned it into a near masterpiece. The first time was in the blistering 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 days which was shorthandedly referred to as the Romanian abortion movie. It’s an accurate label that does the film no justice. And now Mungiu has made the Romanian Orthodox nuns movie. I know a 150 minute foreign film on this subject sounds deathly dull like being forced to eat your vegetables (and I hate vegetables). I honestly didn’t really want to watch it, but I’m more than happy I did.

Whiz of a Wiz – “Oz the Great and Powerful” Review

It might seem counterintuitive, but comparing Oz the Great and Powerful to the classic The Wizard of Oz is a waste of time. It’s not that one has nothing to do with the other because they do. In fact, a lot of care has gone into respecting the roots. The problem is nothing will ever compete with that film, not only because of its status in history but also because it’s not 1939 anymore. As they say, they don’t make them like they used to.

2013 Oscar Checklist – The Master List

This madness is almost over (until next year of course). The Oscars are this Sunday and I managed to see every single film nominated. That’s not a humble brag. This whole thing took a lot of time and even more effort. Most importantly, I’m proud to say Shooting the Script has also reviewed all the nominated films…well almost. There are still a few films that slipped by without being reviewed for various reasons. I ran out of time to give them full-length reviews,  so this post will serve two purposes. It will provide links so you can easily find every review of the nominees, and for the few left unchecked, I’ll have a quick capsule review written for them here. Okay, here we go.

Hasa Diga – “War Witch” Review

Set in an unnamed African country ravaged by civil war, War Witch tells the story of one girl’s hellish nightmare. Kidnapped by rebels at the start of the film, Komona (Rachel Mwanza) must adapt in order to withstand her brutal surroundings. It seems like every film about Africa is an unhappy toil through third-world tragedies and War Wtich is no exception.

2013 Oscar Checklist – Ted & Chasing Ice

These two aren’t the most obvious pair, but they’re the only two films nominated for Best Original Song that I haven’t reviewed yet. So there you have it.

2013 Oscar Checklist – Fairest of Them All

Snow White and The Huntsman is a beautiful piece of trash. The story hasn’t changed too dramatically from the fairy tale. The evil queen, played with diva theatrics by Charlize Theron, wants Snow White dead. Snow, played by the always miscast Kristen Stewart, flees to the forest where she encounters seven dwarfs. Of course there’s a handsome prince trying to rescue her, but this film has her attracted to the Huntsman because he’s played by Chris Hemsworth.