Category Archives: Drama

Melancholia review

Written and directed by Lars von TrierI've said it before and will again: von Trier is a provocateur. That he's from Denmark, my mother's homeland, the most prominent director to emerge from 1995's Dogma movement—a rigorous aesthetic that he's long since shirked—makes his films interesting to me, but I rarely want to see them again.…Read More

Martha Marcy May Marlene review

Written and directed by Sean DurkinMarcy May (Elizabeth Olsen) is one of many young people working at a farm in what looks like upstate New York. We notice it's a bit weird from the get-go: the women prepare the meals and sit outside the dining room while the men eat first. Then the women get…Read More

The Rum Diary review

Directed by Bruce RobinsonWritten by Robinson, adapting the Hunter S. Thompson novelThis is telling: two posters from The Rum Diary, the brand new movie starring Johnny Depp as Paul Kemp, the hero of Hunter S. Thompson's Puerto Rico-set novel. There's this onewhich hides Depp but plays up hotel-room carnage. Playing to fans of The Hangover,…Read More

The Ides of March reviewed

Directed by George ClooneyWritten by Clooney, Grant Heslov andBeau Willimon, based on the play Farragut North by WillimonLet's start by talking about Aaron Sorkin.Maybe that's not fair. Because, lets face it, Sorkin is the king of political thrillers. Even when they're actually about sports, like Moneyball, or about crazy zeitgeist-chasing technology, like The Social Network,…Read More

50/50 Reviewed

Directed by Jonathan LevineWritten by Will ReiserThis picture was a bit of a surprise.In it, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Adam, a 27-year-old guy who works in news radio. He's slim and healthy, runs in the morning through scenic Seattle—definitely Vancouver standing in through some shots—though suffers from a chronic backache. Turns out he has a malignant…Read More

Contagion review

Directed by Steven Soderbergh | Written by Scott Z. Burns | 106 min | Netflix  I've read that Soderbergh's intent with this virus thriller was to make a film akin to producer/director Irwin Allen's disaster movies of the 1970s, which included The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and The Swarm. The template of those pictures…Read More

Moneyball review

Directed by Bennett Miller | Written by Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, from a Stan Chervin story, adapted from a book by Michael Lewis | on Netflix  The first thing Moneyball taught me is that those armchair loudmouths who call into sports shows are a bunch of know-nothing douchebags. Yeah, that's right. Sports radio is full…Read More

Crazy, Stupid, Love review

            Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa Written by Dan Fogelman Oh, I had high hopes for Crazy, Stupid, Love. The directors' previous work includes Bad Santa and I Love You Phillip Morris, both genre-pushing in their own ways. And then there's this cast, which assembled for a romantic…Read More