Tag: drama
The Theory of Everything forgets about the numbers so ends up playing by them
James Marsh’s new film, a biopic of legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane Wilde, is firstly a very traditionally British film; which is to say, a very reserved one.
In the face of tragedy – the gradual debilitation of a vibrant person – there’s nary a tear shed.…
Unbroken is too polished for its own good
War stories tend to have two major themes: man’s inhumanity to man and/or the triumph of the human spirit.
While plenty of films in recent years have focused on the later, most recently Fury, it’s been a while since we’ve had an account of unvarnished heroism.…
Lost River winnows away into nothingness
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a lost river as “a surface stream that flows into an underground passageway.”
Appropriately, Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut of the same name is all about the lurid surfaces and obscure depths, and cuts a wide and muddy channel across the cinematic landscape.…
Son Of A Gun is a movie under the influences
Julius Avery’s Son Of A Gun may fall into the broad category of “crime thriller” but it’s not a neat fit: Julius Avery’s first feature evokes genre pieces as diverse as Starred Up, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, and Drive.
…Get lost in the grounded transcendentalism of Wild
A life-affirming tale of finding yourself amidst nature, based on a best-selling memoir, Wild follows Cheryl Strayed, an aspiring writer whose life falls apart upon the death of her mother.
Having sought refuge in sex and drugs, Cheryl decides to repair her life by walking the 1,200 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the US-Mexican border, through California, Oregon, and Washington, all the way up to Canada.…
Big Eyes: kitsch & sink art drama from Tim Burton
As a brand name director, there are certain things with associate with Tim Burton; a certain quaint creepiness and kooky charm.
More so than these things, however, Burton is known for his coterie: Big Eyes is his first live-action film since 1996 not to feature Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter, though composer Danny Elfman is still hanging on in there.…
Joy is a well-acted festive drag
It’s that time of the year again. Time for clamorous hangovers, spurious resolutions, and David O. Russell’s semi-annual dysfunctional family drama.
2014 gave us family and criminality (American Hustle), 2012 gave us family and mental illness (Silver Linings Playbook), and in 2010 he paired up family and boxing (The Fighter).…
Wait for The Drop: Hardy and Gandolfini shine in this Boston crime drama (RIP, James Gandolfini)
Crime dramas are a dime a dozen.
It’s a popular genre with plenty of easily recyclable tropes: the discount bins runneth over with Lock, Stock ripoffs and Danny Dyer Mockney crime capers. Then again, if you’re with Dennis Lehane, foremost authority on the seedy underbelly of Boston, and Michaël R.…
Nightcrawler makes a scintillating roadshow out of the modern media circus
The best films are often a product of the age in which they were made (interesting word that, “product”).
Without the post-‘Nam disillusionment of the mid-‘70s, no Taxi Driver. Without the on-air suicide of TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck the same year, no Network.…