Back in the 1950s and 1960s, studios would release films specifically designated as “Morality Tales.” They were films that existed to show American audiences characters who were rough around the edges, given a choice between doing the right thing and the easy thing. As American filmmaking entered the glorious mid-’60s, characters took on the anti-hero […]
Movies
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Head in the Clouds
“Pete’s Dragon” soars
There is this running narrative in Disney films that seems to say that adventure in life is OK, but only for a bit. Then you have to cut your hair, go to school and stop wearing a loincloth all day and get prepared for student loans, mortgages and death. “Pete’s Dragon” isn’t necessarily trying to […]
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A Lavash and a Bagel Walk Into a Bar
“Sausage Party” leaves a lot to chew on (sorry)
I can picture it now. Seth Rogen is in a pitch meeting with Sony and Columbia Pictures and he’s got one hell of an idea. A hard R-rated animated comedy—in the vein of Pixar and Dreamworks animated films—about anthropomorphized food people coming to terms with their grisly fate. “Deadpool” proved that a “fun” movie can […]
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Stand By Me Turns 30
SW sits down with the film’s cinematographer to reminisce
Going back and re-watching movies from your childhood is mostly an exercise in futility and disappointment. As an '80s kid, it’s impossible to recapture the same magic I felt watching “The Neverending Story” or “The Golden Child” as an eight-year-old. While some of the movies I loved as a kid are still inherently “good” movies, […]
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General Excitement
Silent 1926 classic, “The General,” screens with a new, live score
In case you haven’t seen it, Buster Keaton’s “The General” is one of the greatest movies ever made. No hyperbole needed or used: the movie is the pinnacle of the silent film era, combining some of the most jaw-dropping stunts and hilarious physical comedy ever captured on celluloid. To see a screening of “The General” […]
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Hunting For Freedom
“Wilderpeople” is a delightful New Zealand oddity
“Hunt For the Wilderpeople” is one of those movies that you can only describe as lovely. The script, the tone and the performances all combine to make a movie that just soars by, content to be exactly what it is and nothing more. The film tells the story of Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison), an orphaned […]
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Squad Goals
Can something be so bad it’s brilliant?
The narrative being constructed by critics and fandom right now is that of a battle between DC Comics’ Extended Cinematic Universe (DCEU) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While Marvel’s started back in 2008 with the first “Iron Man” film and is plotted through 2019’s “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2,” DC is still in […]
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Risky Business
“Nerve” is a movie in search of a soul
Oh, “Nerve,” you had so much promise, and you squandered it so hard. Taking cues from the very simple premise of David Fincher’s under-appreciated 1997 thriller, “The Game,” “Nerve” wants to be so many different things. It’s a teen romance, a cyber thriller, a horror movie, a parable about social media and a finger wagging […]
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Chasin’ Bourne
Matt Damon vs. the law of diminishing returns
Matt Damon had already achieved some measure of success by the time “The Bourne Identity” was released in 2002, but it definitely bumped him from actor to movie star. “Good Will Hunting” (1997) put him on the map. “Dogma” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” gave him cred, and “Oceans Eleven” made him “Hollywood,” but “Bourne” […]
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Over the Garden Wall
“Swiss Army Man” unfolds expertly
“Swiss Army Man” came out of the Sundance Film Festival amid multiple walkouts, critically derided as Daniel Radcliffe’s farting corpse movie. I am happy to report that is EXACTLY what the movie is (among about two dozen other things) and it earns every second of its scatologically-obsessed running time. There are poops, farts, boners, masturbation […]