Like a machine, we can take RoboCop apart, breaking it down to discrete components: Writing. Directing. Acting. Editing. And disassembled, just about every piece of 2014’s RoboCop remake is better than the corresponding piece of 1987’s RoboCop. But there’s a strange, beautiful alchemy that bubbles and hisses when one speaks of transcendent concepts such as […]
Film
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Critical Miss
Knights of Badassdom Is an Unholy Beast
Idiots might grin when they see a fiery-eyed, supernatural Peter Dinklage give a knowing smile while avenging his bloody death at the teeth and talons of a hell-spawned succubus near the end of Knights of Badassdom. (Whoops! Spoiler alert!) He’s a badass in Game of Thrones! And now he’s a badass in a movie about […]
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No Mickey Mouse Films Here
Animated shorts is the Oscar’s most imaginative category
Last year, Disney won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film with “Paperboy,” a short, visually pleasing and, not surprisingly, predictable, easy-to-like, love story. It beat out other clever entries from much smaller crews, like “Fresh Guacamole,” a quick-witted visual treat from a one-man animating team. It hardly seems fair. Again, this year, Disney has […]
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Bratwurst Party
Going to war with The Monuments Men
“See, I’m not just a pretty face!” George Clooney says in The Monuments Men. And then, because he’s George Clooney, he smiles charmingly, and because he’s George Clooney, you think, “That’s right! You aren’t just a pretty face!” Because you’re George Clooney! Still, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Clooney—in addition to being a pretty […]
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Rush-MORE, not less
The Grand Anderson Film Series begins
Max Fisher: I like your nurse’s uniform. Dr. Peter Flynn: These are O.R. scrubs. Max Fisher: Oh, are they? And so begins the Source‘s latest film series, “The Grand Anderson,” a celebration of the great quotes, storylines and characters penned and brought to life by writer and director Wes Anderson. Rushmore—a classic tale of one […]
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It’s Elementary
Since bursting forth on the page in 1887, magnifying glass in hand, Sherlock Holmes has been depicted on screen more than 250 times, gaining him the Guinness Book of World Records title of “most portrayed literary human character in film & TV.” Benedict Cumberbatch is the latest to try on the famous detective’s deerstalker hat […]
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Short, But Powerful
Tin Pan Screens Oscar Nominated Short Films
Short stories are a different creature, with quicker, more nimble storylines than their feature length counterparts, and often populated with instantly dynamic characters. Without time to meander, the narratives and characters often spring right into action, hurtling directly toward the conclusion. They are exciting, punchy creations. The short film category—including live action, animation, and documentary—also […]
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Welcome Back Fellini
The Great Beauty brings back traditional Italian cinema
The Great Beauty takes a while to take on a structure—and, with true Fellini dreaminess, rarely holds onto a cohesive storyline. The film opens with a seemingly unrelated scene—a lyrical and sun-dappled scene as Japanese tourists explore one of Rome’s hillside chapels, before one man drops dead from a heart attack—and then jumps to a […]
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Jack Ryan: Hot Idiot Recruit
Jack Ryan has many positive qualities. Being smart is not one of them.
Have you ever dated somebody who was super good-looking, but there wasn’t really a connection, and you were pretty sure they were straight-up dumb, but they got a pass because it’s fun to make out with hot people and you decided not to care about substance? And you knew in your heart that it was […]
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Dyslectics of the World Untie!
Film Forum
Harvey Hubbell V has created a humorous look on a serious challenge: dyslexia, a disorder he himself struggles with and chronicles in his latest film, Dislecksia: The Movie. At one point the screen fills with a montage of his childhood report cards written in teachers’ 1960s penmanship: “He can barely write his own name,” “He […]
