Category Archives: Recommended

Margin Call review

Written and directed by JC ChandorMargin Call arrived in cinemas near me with not much fanfare, which is a shame as it's all kinds of good.It's the summer of 2008 at some Lehmann Brothers-esque New York investment bank, full of morally bankrupt fat cats. Well, maybe it's not as simple as that, but it's hard…Read More

The Descendants review

Directed by Alexander PayneScreenplay by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash from a novel by Kaui Hart HemmingsGeorge Clooney is Matt King. Matt is the trustee of a large parcel of land in Hawaii, a place that seems a whole lot like paradise despite Matt's voiceover telling us that everyone's life has rough patches, even…Read More

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

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

Drive review

Directed by Nicolas Winding RefnWritten by Hossien Amini from a book by James SallisI was so ready for this movie for a bunch of reasons. 1) Ryan Gosling is the King of Hollywood right now. He can do whatever he wants, get any movie made by showing an interest, and he's shown that he either…Read More

The Trip (2011) review

Directed by Michael Winterbottom Weirdly, this film has no credited writer. Maybe not so weird. It's very possible that the picture was entirely improvised by the two leads, Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, both of whom were in Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. Something else people should know: The film is an…Read More

Captain America: The First Avenger review

Directed by Joe Johnson, Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, adapted from comics by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby In 2011 we've had five big budget superhero movies, going back to January's Green Hornet and including Thor, X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern in order of release. It's understandable that one might be feeling a little Powers Fatigue, a condition…Read More