Movies »
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Nobody Else But You
Nobody Else But You is a light neo-noir French thriller about a celebrity model that hides behind her famous figure in public while her personal life is crumbing around her. Her sudden death inspires a writer to become a detective to try to solve the murder mystery. Aside from the dialog and the plentiful use of male nudity, the film felt more American than it did French. |
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Rapt
Rapt is, if anything, a timely film. It’s been over three years since it was released in France (it came out in theatres stateside last year) but it feels more relevant today. With the demonization of corporations and CEOs thanks to the financial crisis and the resulting backlash from the public, Rapt makes the ballsy move of making a selfish, rich chairman of a corporation a sympathetic character. Luckily, Rapt exudes so much confidence from its tight pacing, excellent cast and smooth direction that the gamble ends up paying off. |
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Urbanized
Urbanized is the third and final documentary installment of the design trilogy by Gary Hustwit. First, Hustwit focused on how one typeface that is everywhere is often overlooked in Helvetica before moving on to showing how industrial design affects our daily lives with Objectified. In this film it literally gives us a street level view of the design of cities and how urban planning affects us. |
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Hick
Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011 was Hick, a film directed by Derick Martini about a teenager who aimlessly drifts away from her Nebraska home. Aimlessly drifts are a common theme here because the entire film seems to follow the main characters lead. The film tried to be bizarre and off-beat but ultimately it felt more contrived than anything. |
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Sleepless Night
When I was 11 or 12 the local YMCA started hosting these overnight “lock-ins” where kids could go and do all kinds of things like swimming, and watching cartoons on a giant screen set up in one of the gyms. We played arcade games, billiards, darts, basketball and dodge ball. You name it, we did it. They served us as all the pizza and pop that we could handle. From 9pm until 3 or 4 in the morning (or for some of us whenever our bodies couldn’t take it anymore) we would just run around a 4 story building having the time of our lives. Sleepless Night reminded me of these lock-ins from my youth. |
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Haywire
Haywire is the new icy cold globe-trotting film from veteran director Steven Soderbergh. It’s a lean and mean thriller that starts in Upstate New York and works its way all over the world. From Barcelona to Dublin to the desert of New Mexico and back to New York again, Haywire is everywhere. I personally saw Haywire as a great throwback to spy and espionage thrillers of the 70’s. Everything from the music, to the cinematography and editing seemed to be celebrating that generation of secret agents. |
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The Big Year
While watching The Big Year I was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised. The disappointment was, with comedy superstars such as Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, that it wasn’t as funny as I had anticipated it would be. The pleasant surprise was that it still turned out to be a very good movie. |
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The Double Hour
Some call The Double Hour a foreign art house thriller while I would lean slightly more toward film nior, maybe it’s all of the above. I saw glimpses of Tell No One in this heart pounding Italian thriller from all of the twists and turns in the plot. One thing is for certain, the film begs to be watched more than once. |
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The Innkeepers
Ti West’s The Innkeepers is one hell of a slow burner. The film moves at a snail’s pace but is none-the-less fascinating at how it achieves a grand atmosphere. All the credit goes to West, a young director who is on a hot streak with this film and the one prior, The House of the Devil. |
