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Recent Reviews
- Good Kill – An artistic exploration of drone assassinations
- Citizenfour – a fascinating and important topic, but a disappointing documentary
- Interstellar – Probably the best film of the year, certainly the most enjoyable!
- Laggies – a delightful little film about late-blooming misfits
- Two Days, One Night – it’s (almost) exactly what you expect it to be
- Whiplash – a disgusting, stupidly manipulative piece of absurdity.
- Still Alice – big stars, big production, but still just a Hallmark movie of the week
- Wild – it’s surprisingly well-made and fun to watch
- Black Sea – diverting, but sadly predictable
- Birdman (Or the Expected Emptiness of Pretension)
- Mr. Turner – Planet of the Ape
- The Imitation Game – It’s an abomination
- A Brief Word on the 2014 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts
- Kill The Messenger – The important and tragic story of Gary Webb, the mainstream media, and the CIA
- This is Where I Leave You – the latest in a long line of “family reunion” movies
- A review of summer cinema – it was pretty grim!
- The Trip to Italy – It never should have been made
- A Most Wanted Man – Superficially entertaining, but poorly-made and overrated
- Magic in the Moonlight – It’s pissing me off!
- The Purge: Anarchy – Surprisingly, it’s rather good
- I Origins – ambitious and entertaining
- Boyhood – a bit one dimensional, but its one dimension is lovely, impressive and fun to experience
- Obvious Child – cute, dignified and gutsy
- Snowpiercer – a fantastic, riveting science fiction action allegory
- Edge of Tomorrow – it’s fairly entertaining
- Begin Again – confronting the future of pop music head-on
- The Fault in Our Stars – not super-moving, but definitely enjoyable
- Hellion – a gritty tale of fucked up parents and children
- Night Moves – a cool, subtle portrayal of hippy-liberal activism turned violent
- Cold In July – an outstandingly fun and unusual film, and a paean for the 1980s
- Austenland – so horrible, I’m speechless
- Elena – 80 minutes of torture
- Lucky Them – Toni Collette takes center stage and lights up the screen!
- Belle – it means well, but God is it slow (and dull)
- Finding Vivian Maier – an okay documentary on a fascinating artist
- The German Doctor (Wakolda) – Diverting, but feels more than a little contrived
- Chef – it’s heart is in the right place
- Jodorowsky’s Dune – a bizarre and amazing documentary
- Hateship, Loveship – it goes down well
- Divergent – entertaining, but there’s a lot wrong with it
Author Archives: roguespirit
The Awakening – another mediocre horror film
They just don’t know how to make horror films any more. The Awakening started off okay, I suppose. Rebecca Hall (always a welcome presence in any movie) plays a cool, intelligent female scientist who debunks ghosts. She goes to a … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003) – The United States vs. Hugo Chavez
In the aftermath of Hugo Chavez’s death, I was moved to re-watch The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the brilliant documentary of the failed U.S.-backed coup directed against him and his democratically elected administration. Of course you can’t rent or … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 2000s
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No – A great topic, but a really badly made film
No is a frustrating movie. I wanted to like it, because it’s a very interesting story, one that is directly connected to the fascinating geopolitical history of how the United States used to run South America, and no longer does. … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) – An Appreciation
The night three years ago when I watched Emily Rose, my wife was out of town and I was alone in the house. I figured it would be another toothless horror film, and I rented it mainly because it was … Continue reading
End of Watch – Surprisingly, it’s very good!
My expectations for End of Watch were pretty low – basically, I like Jake Gyllenhaal, so I watched it. But this film is a passed-over gem of sorts. It is very well-made, interesting, and artistically it succeeds way more than I … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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10 Years – More like 20 years!
In this movie, a bunch of people go to their 10 year high school reunion, and not much happens. Actually, nothing happens. This movie meant well. It’s low-key and a bit gritty, and it did have some pretty good moments … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
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Celeste & Jesse Forever – Well-intentioned, but it falls flat
Rashida Jones is adorable, and I think it’s fabulous that she (like Brit Marling and Zoe Kazan) has faced the dearth of quality female roles head-on by sitting down and writing her own movie to star in. Celeste & Jesse … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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We Need to Talk About Kevin – Such ridiculous trash!
The moral of this story: If your five year old son is still in dipers, talks like a violent and deranged 20 year-old, stares at you like a serial killer, and your husband thinks there’s nothing wrong with this, just … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
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Liberal Arts – an amusing film about academia
Liberal Arts is perhaps a bit uneven, but it’s an entertaining and somewhat original-feeling film, and its merits definitely outweigh its flaws. On the plus side, it’s a very amusing and sometimes heartfelt portrayal of academia and academic personalities. Its portrait … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Hurt Locker (2009) – incredibly overrated
My wife and I finally caught up with The Hurt Locker on Netflix. I always felt bad that I never saw it. Turns out my instincts to avoid it were in fact right on the money. The first half of … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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