‘Caught Stealing:’ A Crime Caper That Doesn’t Quite Catch On
The late Nineties. The Lower East Side. A cool dive bar. A hot couple. What could possibly go wrong in Caught Stealing? Director Darren Aronofsky tries—perhaps too eagerly—to capture the chaotic energy of fast‑paced, one‑day thrillers like 24 Hours, setting his film in a graffitied, pre‑gentrified Alphabet City section of 1998 Manhattan. There’s a gritty charm in revisiting that era: the sidewalk grime, pay phones and neon...
Smell ‘The Roses’ and Revel in the Couples’ Comedy
Benedict Cumberbatch is not known for comedy. Neither is Olivia Colman, unless you count her brief turn a few years back as Chef Terry on The Bear. But together as Theo and Ivy Rose in the Searchlight feature film The Roses, they are an unbeatable comedic couple in an eminently watchable two hours. In the adaptation of Warren Adler’s novel The War of the Roses and the 1989 film starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, we first...
The Celebrity Fan Holds All the Power in ‘Lurker’
Everyone who works in the entertainment industry knows someone like this, a person who can best be described as “someone who would step over their dead grandmother to get next to a celebrity.” In the new film Lurker written and directed by Alex Russell, Matthew/Matty (portrayed by Théodore Pellerin) is that person—and ironically he lives with his grandmother, who’s not dead– yet. Matty works at a trendy clothing store on LA’s...
It’s Denzel as You’ve Never Seen Him in Spike Lee’s ‘Highest 2 Lowest’
What a joy to see Denzel Washington running through a subway station looking almost as trim and fit as he did 25 years ago during his Oscar-winning role in Training Day. But this time, in Highest 2 Lowest, his fifth collaboration with acclaimed director Spike Lee, he is the good guy in a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s classic film High and Low. The story takes a while to get rolling but the set-up is enjoyable to watch if you dig...
Oscar Winner Walter Murch Redefines Film Editing in his New Book
The English Patient. The Conversation. Apocalypse Now. The Godfather films. The Talented Mr. Ripley. They are considered some of the best films of all time and they all have something in common. Walter Murch worked on all on them as a sound designer, a sound recordist or as an editor. Murch can now add author to his impressive resume, which includes three Academy Awards, two for The English Patient and one for The Conversation. At a...
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