January 2011
6 posts
Iconoclast am I?
I can’t remember the last time I watched the Academy Awards broadcast. It’s been 25 years or more, I’m sure. Actually, for nearly two decades, I withdrew from mainstream Hollywood cinema—not entirely, but in large part—and, since I’d seen almost none of the nominated films, what was the point of watching the programme?
It’s true, for most of the 1990s...
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The King's Speech (2010) review
No one is perfect. We each have flaws and problems, greater or lesser, emotional, psychological, or physical. The secret to a successful life, it seems to me, is overcoming our flaws, whether that means rectifying them or, when that’s impossible, learning to deal with them. Who isn’t inspired by a tale, real or fictional, of an individual who triumphs in spite of a handicap?
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Hey, don't go away!
A confluence of events—I saw most of the films I wanted to see (except The King’s Speech, still waiting for that), I resumed teaching in addition to my full-time “day” job, I’m racing a 31 January deadline on a chapter for an anthology on film noir, and some interpersonal “drama” has been layered on top of all that—has reduced the frequency of my...
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Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) review
A bit late for the holidays, I finally caught up with Rare Exports, a Finnish film about a giant, killer Santa Claus and his horde of feral elves. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Lurid, exploitative? Uh…think again. Rare Exports is actually a rather family-friendly (some profanity and some old-man nudity aside) fantasy-comedy with an intriguing premise, superb production values and...
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The Fighter (2010) review
So, right after I see a Western (True Grit), I watch a boxing film (The Fighter)? What sort of retro kick is Hollywood on these days? Actually, a decent one, to be honest, since both True Grit and The Fighter are entertaining pieces of work, and not revisionist, debunking, 3D-ed, hip-hop, shaky-cam, CGI-ed versions of classic genres. Director David O. Russell does play with...
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True Grit (2010) review
Confession time: I like Westerns, always have, from B-Westerns to blockbusters, traditional to revisionist. I won’t say Westerns are my favourite genre, and it has been a long time since the days when I’d watch one “oater” after another, but if the world is divided between “people who like Westerns” and “people who don’t,” put me solidly in...
