Author Archive
Film Review – Begin Again
Earnest, sweet, endearing, laconic, engaging; these are all terms that come to mind when describing the delightful new musical Begin Again. A follow up by director John Carney to the astonishingly terrific Once, the new film works as a spiritual sequel. It doesn’t share any…
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SIFF Film Review – The Skeleton Twins
It’s kind of remarkable. Saturday Night Live alumni from the 21st century have been showing up in films where they’ve created some really strong character work as of late. If you look at the recent work of Andy Samberg in Celeste and Jesse Forever or…
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Film Review – Don Peyote
Self-indulgent. That describes both the main character and the new film Don Peyote itself. Meant to be a comically surreal journey through one slacker’s drug addled head, instead this film is a meandering bout of navel gazing that tires out the viewer well before it…
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Film Review – The Final Member
Men are obsessed with their own ding-a-lings. We fetishize them, brag about them, name them, protect them, imbue them with all of our manly attributes, credit them with our success, insult others, adjust them, play with them, overestimate them, and spend an inordinate amount of…
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Film Review – Better Living Through Chemistry
Better Living Through Chemistry comes off as a comedic reworking of Double Indemnity. Sifted through an independent comedy sensibility, the film concerns a meek cuckold of a husband and father who is taken in by a seductress. While similar plots are well worn and may…
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Film Review – The Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki has been often referred to as the Walt Disney of Japan. He has been the driving force behind Studio Ghibli. He has churned out a slew of classic animated films over the years. Being in his seventies, he is claiming that his newest…
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Film Review – Winter’s Tale
Sometimes movie adaptations of something popular comes along way too late. The excitement and momentum a given phenomenon has at times has to be capitalized upon while everyone still passionately cares. Admittedly, books or plays that are classics have a timeless quality that makes them…
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Film Review – Loves Her Gun
“A young woman deals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after surviving a violent mugging.” If you were to be glib and create a Twitter sized plot summary, this could easily describe the independent film Loves Her Gun.
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