Life of Pi (or, Piscine’s Wager) is a minor miracle of cinema

 

The first time that Ang Lee’s Life of Pi truly seized my attention, it’s protagonist was skittering across the wind and rain-swept of cargo freighter, shouting to the turbulent heavens like some underage, subaltern Lear.

However, what Piscine Molitor Patel – named for a Parisian swimming pool – sees as God putting on a show is nevertheless deadly: we watch as, on the cargo deck below, we an unknown, faceless sailor is swept overboard by the invading sea.…

The Hobbit: An Unremarkable Journey – A Deconstruction

If you haven’t yet seen the first part of Peter Jackson’s new trilogy based on the esteemed fantasy novel/children’s book by JRR Tolkien and don’t wish to have it tainted by misanthropic grumblings and general pedantry, stop here.

There are some very strong and mixed feelings bubbling up within me as I write this and many of them carry with them spoilers.…

End of Watch is a classic of solidity

 

End of Watch is a found-footage style cop drama, directed and written by the writer of Training Day and Street Kings. It’s also markedly better than that sounds.

David Ayers, who also wrote the script for The Fast and the Furious, shoots the majority of the film from the perspective of Officer Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal), who drives a patrol car in South Central LA with his partner Mike Zavala (Michael Peña).…

Seven Psychopaths; or, F**kin’ Hollywood

 

Hans: As Gandhi said…’An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind’. I believe that wholeheartedly.

Billy: No, it doesn’t. There’ll be one guy left with one eye. How’s the last blind guy going to take out the eye of the last guy left whose still got one eye left?

Argo is Alan J. Pakula without the bite

 

The newest film by Chasing Amy* star Ben Affleck is notable for many reasons, not least in that it has broken the director’s run of continuous 94%s on Rotten Tomatoes.

Whether it is an objectively better film that either Gone Baby Gone or The Town is open to debate.…