Monday, 1.20 at 12:30 pm. I got started an hour later than usual this morning due to crashing at 2 am, which was the fault of Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood beginning around 10 pm last night. I have to leave by 1:30 pm for the pain-in-the-ass Redstone Cinemas (located way out in Kimball Junction) to catch … Read more
Six- or eight-paragraph Sundance “reviews” are out of the question for me. Between three movies per day and all the running around the most I can manage, it seems, is to tap out tweets and then build these into three- or four-paragraph riffs, but I have to do this on the shuttle bus between screenings … Read more
Five weeks ago I did a short little riff on six Sundance ’14 standouts. But the more I sift through the programs, the less excited I am. I’m not down on anything — just even-toned. The usual 25 or so films will be seen and the usual five or six (at most) will emerge as … Read more
My last 2014 Highlights update posted on 1.3. This morning I reviewed Hitfix’s “Most Anticipated Prestige Films of 2014” piece (which I avoided because it’s one of those photo cavalcade page-view pieces) and have added 9 of their picks along with 4 wait-and-see maybes. So my previous total of 46 is now 55 or 59 … Read more
Those who pay to see Black Swan this weekend will be the first to catch a new trailer for Terrence Malick‘s Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight, 5.27). It’s not quite 3 pm in New York, but any impressions would be appreciated. I wish I had the option instead of being stuck inside of Mobile with … Read more
That Home Theatre Forum guy who today posted impressions of Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life, having seen it a day or two previously, says (a) “it’s finished” (but only Mr. Whackadoodle knows for sure!), (b) “it’s about three hours,” and (c) “I believe it releases in October but it may be a limited release … Read more
For whatever reason I haven’t yet been able to make myself write my review of Brian Goodman’s What Doesn’t Kill You (opening today in NYC and LA), which I saw and liked immediately at last September’s Toronto Film Festival. Go figure. It’s a straight-up, character-driven, top-drawer Boston crime movie with hugely satisfying performances (Mark Ruffalo … Read more
I love that they’re trying to sell the new four-disc Ben-Hur DVD to the religious right, offering to Christian retail outlets a “Ben-Hur Bible Study Guide” by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller and his son, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, the co-chairmen of Crystal Cathedral Ministries. This is just as phony a sales pitch as … Read more