 |
|
"No less a light than Steven Soderbergh (once upon a time the flag-bearer for independent American cinema) is on record as calling Choking Man [out on DVD today] 'everything an independent film should be," notes James Van Maanen. "If that kind of all-encompassing praise sounds difficult to live up to, not to worry. Steve Barron's film is plenty good and certainly worth its 83 minutes of your time. Though he was on vacation at the time, he was kind enough to answer a few quick questions via email." Besides the interview, Van Maanen has a review of the film as well, at Guru. Read Full Article >> |
|
|
In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Counterfeiters, My Brother, and oodles more.
- What We're Watching: Harold/Kumar, Patriotism, Heavy Metal Baghdad.
- Explore: Contest winners, GC Daily, etc.
|
|
|
The winner for Best Foreign Film at this year's Oscars, Stefan Ruzowitzky's searing drama "poses some tricky moral questions, and its troubling ambiguities rank a cut above the dubious uplift of Schindler's List," wrote Jonathan Rosenbaum. The film, writes Michael Sragow, "is in its own smart, trim fashion The Bridge on the River Kwai of concentration-camp sagas. Also based (like Kwai) on a real-life story, this movie starts small but becomes a miniature epic of overreach and moral drift." Read our interview with the director. |
|
|
|
Already a smash in its native Italy, My Brother is an Only Child, which was presented at this year's Cannes and Toronto film festivals, unites director Daniele Luchetti with longtime collaborators Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, best known as screenwriters of the highly acclaimed The Best of Youth. A "ripe, ferociously acted comic drama," raved the Boston Globe. Adds David Edelstein: "What makes [the film] so alive and entertaining is how it dramatizes the endless tug-of-war between political conviction and personal experience--the way the lines twist and blur and finally implode." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
On paper, there's much to like about the sequel to the surprise hit about a stoned duo's misadventures on the way to a White Castle in Cherry Hill, New Jersey: it stars two likeable actors ( John Cho and Kal Penn) reprising likeable roles, it has the nerve to turn the civil-rights nightmare that is Gitmo into a dick joke and it gleefully subverts racial stereotypes to such a degree, it almost becomes a post-racial stoner flick. Unfortunately, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay forgets one thing along... read the review >> |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
This film marks an important step forward for the widely ignored school of Iraq docs, it depicts the plights of middle class people who in all likelihood led lives that bear more resemblance to documentary viewers in the States than films about soldiers, prisoners, orphans or war criminals. Heavy Metal in Baghdad tells the story of Acrassicauda (which translates to Black Scorpion of the Desert), the only known heavy metal band in Baghdad. Before the 2003 invasion, these young men... read review >> |
|
| |
Originals
|
|
