The Canyons To say the least, it’s rare that a movie with a budget of $250,000 becomes the subject of a 7,600 word article in The New York Times Magazine. It makes a little more sense, when you know that The Canyons was directed by Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and…
I’m not sure why Woody Allen decided to set Blue Jasmine in San Francisco. He can turn a city into a main character of his films; from Manhattan to Vicki Cristina Barcelona to Midnight in Paris. But in Blue Jasmine, the city is neither lovingly shot nor does it really have a role to play…
When I was reading comics as a teenager, I was one of the few readers who did not claim that Wolverine was his favorite member of the X-Men. I found him a somewhat shallow construction, gruff and violent, with a mostly golden heart. The adamantium-clawed, cigar-chomping Canadian seemed obvious to me, the kind of character…
Last year, when Nat Faxon and Jim Rash accepted the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay with Alexander Payner for The Descendants, a bunch of people watching the show said, “Wait, those guys?” Faxon is a dopey-faced blond who has appeared in countless TV sitcoms and B-movies, and bald and awkward; Rash plays the hapless…
I have been travelling with my partner, and at one point, we ran out of clean socks and underwear and the only place open and nearby with such items was Urban Outfitters. Normally, I don’t shop there because the store is mostly owned by a man who donated $13,000 to Rick Santorum; also their clothes…
People are scared that the end is coming. I don’t think they actually believe that Judgment Day is nigh, or that an extinction-level asteroid is on its way, or that Syria (or North Korea, or Taiwan) is going to lead to World War 3, or that a virus will mutate into a pandemic as deadly…
This Is the End Usually, when Hollywood tackles the end of the world we get giant sci-fi epics focusing on teams of either super-heroes or super-heroic soldiers making the planet’s last ditch effort to stave off oblivion. Whether the end comes in the form of asteroids (Armageddon, Deep Impact), aliens (Independence Day, War of the…
As a character, and as stories, Superman has long been bright, optimistic and wholesome; firmly in the category of mom, apple pie, truth, justice and the American way. Superman’s unfailing, idealistic, compassionate heroism has never existed in the real world, which is one of the most important reasons that he has been so attractive and…
After I walked out of Now You See Me, a caper film about four magicians who become master thieves and the FBI agents trying to stop them, I began to overthink the twist at the end. I won’t reveal it, because that would be unfair, but it made me question some of the opinions I…
I ended up seeing Epic because I couldn’t abide seeing the other two movies that opened Memorial Day, Fast & Furious 6 and The Hangover, Part 3. I didn’t bother with Fast & Furious 6 because I didn’t see the previous four, and I was worried that I’d be confused. I’m kidding, of course; I’m…
