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William Never Married | Review
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012Director: Christian Palmer Writers: Christian Palmer, Gil Ponce Starring: Buddy Vowell, Lori Larsen, Erika Mayfield, Davie-Blue, Rachel Pate, Matt Smith, Linas Phillips, Geoffery Simmons, James Stone William (Christian Palmer) is a lanky young man whose greased black hair and black leather jacket lend him a certain air of out-of-timeness. We soon learn that William’s state [...]
Forgotten Bomb, The | Review
Monday, January 23rd, 2012Director: Stuart Overbey Eighteen months ago, I watched and reviewed Lucy Walker’s documentary Countdown to Zero which set an extremely high bar for non-fiction films with anti-nuclear agendas. I expressed my opinions fairly exhaustively on nuclear weapons in my review of Countdown to Zero, so I am not going to repeat any of that here. [...]
Red Tails | Review
Friday, January 20th, 2012Director: Anthony Hemingway Writers: John Ridley, Aaron McGruder Starring: Terence Howard, Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelley, Leslie Odom Jr., Kevin Phillips, Daniela Ruah, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo, Marcus T. Paulk, Andre Royo, Gerald McRaney, Lars van Riesen As the end credits were rolling for Red Tails, I overheard a critic sitting directly [...]
Matthew Bate (Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure) | Interview
Thursday, January 19th, 2012A series of tapes featuring two bickering San Francisco men with a penchant for profanity so flamboyantly profane that even Jack Rebney (Winnebago Man) might blush at the sound of it were recorded in the late 1980s by two young punks, Mitch Deprey and Eddie Lee Sausage. The unaware neighbors of the audio misadventures, Peter [...]
Certified Copy | Review
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012Director: Abbas Kiarostami Writer: Abbas Kiarostami Starring: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière, Agathe Natanson, Gianna Giachetti, Adrian Moore, Angelo Barbagallo, Andrea Laurenzi, Filippo Trojano, Manuela Balsinelli An unnamed woman (Juliette Binoche) attends a book reading in Italy by an art historian, James Miller (William Shimell). He reads from the new Italian edition (a copy) [...]
Code Blue | Review
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012Director: Urszula Antoniak Writer: Urszula Antoniak (screenplay) Starring: Bien de Moor, Lars Eidinger, Annemarie Prins, Sophie van Winden, Christine Bijvanck, Hans Kesting In the second feature film directed by Urszula Antoniak –- a Polish filmmaker living in Amsterdam –- the lead character, Marian (Bien de Moor) is constantly saying that she has made a mistake. [...]
Protektor | Review
Monday, January 16th, 2012Director: Marek Najbrt Writers: Marek Najbrt, Robert Geisler, Benjamin Tucek Starring: Jana Plodková, Marek Daniel, Jiri Ornest, Tomás Mechácek, Matthias Brandt, Klára Melísková, Martin Mysicka, Sandra Nováková, Josef Polásek If you have never thought of a film’s soundtrack as a metronome for the visuals, take a gander at Czech writer-director Marek Najbrt’s Protektor. Highly graphic, [...]
Don’s Golden Globes Predictions
Saturday, January 14th, 2012As the token film snob of Smells Like Screen Spirit, it was probably not the best idea for me to write a preview of the 2012 Golden Globes. Up until the last couple of years, I have typically agreed with more of the Golden Globes’ nominations (and winners) than those at the Academy Awards. I [...]
Terri | Review
Saturday, January 14th, 2012Director: Azazel Jacobs Writer(s): Patrick Dewitt (screenplay), Azazel Jacobs (story) Starring: Jacob Wysocki, John C. Reilly, Bridger Zadina, Creed Bratton, Olivia Crocicchia, Tim Heidecker Pride. Tradition. Excellence. These three words takeover the screen for a few seconds in the form of an enormous inscription on the wall of a high school assembly hall as two [...]
Divide, The | Review
Friday, January 13th, 2012Director: Xavier Gens
Writer: Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean
Starring: Lauren German, Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Biehn, Ashton Holmes, Peter Stormare, Rosanna Arquette, Courtney B. Vance, Michael Eklund
The Divide opens to frantic chaos as an unspecific nuclear strike slams New York City. The panicked residents of a highrise apartment building stampede to the basement in a last-ditch effort to escape the horrific destruction above. Luckily for them (debatable), their cigar toking super named Mickey (Michael Biehn) has fashioned the basement level of the building into fallout shelter. Micky immediately takes the alpha role since they are all on his turf and orders that the reinforced metal door be sealed shut with nobody allowed to come or go until they are sure that radiation is no longer an issue.
In no time confrontations begin to emerge as “the mouthy insane one” Bobby (Michael Eklund), “the tough guy” Josh (Milo Ventimiglia), and “the token middle-aged black guy” Devlin (Courtney B. Vance) begin a mutiny against Micky as they are hellbent on making outside contact and finding his secret stashes within the shelter. On the other side we have those who are trying to keep the peace like Josh’s half-brother “the quiet sensitive one” Adrien (Ashton Holmes), “the Milla Jovovich-ish character” Eva (Lauren German), and her estranged boyfriend “the doormat French guy” Sam (Ivan Gonzales). Then we have “the tortured promiscuous mother” Marilyn (Rosanna Arquette) who is just trying to protect her young daughter Wendy (Abbey Thickson), who is freaked by the the situation at hand. Trapped with no sign of rescue, and with their supply of water and canned-beans depleting, insanity, distrust and brutality take over as the third act goes bleakly dark and disturbing. Who will make it, and what has become of the outside world?
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