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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
Little Birds – a gritty and realistic (but bleak) indie film about teenagers without hope
Yesterday, I caught the opening of Little Birds at Angelika Film Center. Little Birds is one of those indie films that is admirably gritty and realistic without being terribly interesting or deep. I’m not saying it’s not a good story or that … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Premium Rush – Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a questionable film enjoyable
My wife and I caught this on opening night at the Union Square Theater. It’s 90 minutes of high-speed bike riding in New York City traffic. If you are into that, you will probably love this movie; if not, you … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Mirror Mirror – why did I watch this?
I honestly couldn’t tell you why I watched this thing. Chalk it up to temporary brain death. I had a lot of time to think during this film, and I found my mind wandering to the following topic: have I … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Gone – it’s surprisingly good!
I figured Gone would be your typical brain-rot teen thriller type of movie. It really surprised me with how well put together it is, and my wife and I were pretty shocked at how much this movie exceeded our expectations. … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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Wet Hot American Summer (2001) – hmmmmm ….
I read on the internet somewhere that Wet Hot American Summer is a cult phenomenon in New York City. I haven’t noticed any evidence of this in my 17 years living here. My wife and I streamed this on Netflix because we are … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 2000s
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Mao’s Last Dancer (2010) – well done and enjoyable
Mao’s Last Dancer is quite well done for what it is. I don’t love this kind of thing, generally speaking, but I found this enjoyable. The story is not super interesting, perhaps, but it does manage to hold your attention. … Continue reading
Posted in 2010
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – much worse than I feared it would be
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was, in the 1979 Alec Guinness BBC miniseries, translated to film as perfectly as anything I’ve ever seen. Compared to that masterpiece, this remake is a dumbed-down comic book. I’m not just being outrageous for effect here, I mean this … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
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Dirty Girl – A very cute indie film with a quirky style
I’m not sure what to make of Dirty Girl. It’s far from great, and I’m not sure I would watch it again (I might,) but enjoyed it way more than I expected to. It has a certain infectious, quirky style running … Continue reading
Posted in 2011
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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry – an interesting, if limited, documentary
My wife and I caught Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry at IFC the other night, and we enjoyed it. I would not call it a great documentary – it lacks a certain depth, cohesiveness and beauty that the very best documentaries have – … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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The Sound of My Voice – Charismatic Frauds 101
My wife and I saw The Sound of My Voice a while ago, at Sunshine Cinema, in a near-empty theater, a short while before the movie exited ignominiously. I guess the audience for this film – the few dozen Brit Marling … Continue reading
Posted in 2012
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