“You’ll Be Dumb With Wonderment” (#92)

I’ve always wanted to like Moulin Rouge. It certainly looks fun. And most of it sounds pretty great. Baz Luhrmann’s vision for a jukebox musical was a lot more original back in 2001, before Broadway was littered with shows that repurpose pop songs, and before mashups were mainstream. The “Elephant Love Medley” is certainly an […]

“Who Needs Reasons When You’ve Got Heroin?” (#9)

“Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin can openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a […]

‘August’ Of Wind: Pot Smoking, Pill Popping & A Lot Of Bluster

It’s hot in Osage County in the summertime — likely because of all the star wattage you’ll find there. Let’s take a tour. Here we have the Oscar Queen, Meryl Streep, peerless amongst all actresses who ever lived. And over here is Julia Roberts, one of the biggest and brightest movie stars of the past […]

Not-Oscars 2012: The Year’s Best Performances

(Originally published at JustinPlusSeven on January 10, 2013.) You, dear reader, have the honor of reading this in the future, after the Oscar nominations have been announced. But I am writing from this from the near past, before we know which five contenders are fighting it out in each category. Of course, some are shoo-ins; […]

Top Ten Films: 2012

It’s Oscar time! As usual, the Academy Awards are poised to make some very wrong decisions this year. So as usual, I am prematurely correcting them by releasing my Top Ten of the year. That year is 2012, of course — real film critics release such lists at the end of December or beginning of […]

Swept Away: ‘The Impossible’

(Originally posted on JustinPlusSix on November 8.) Well, it’s been a hell of a week. In the time since I wrote my review of Cloud Atlas last week, we’ve had Hurricane Sandy, Halloween, and we re-elected Barack Obama. (I know Sandy was technically more than a week ago, but I wrote my review beforehand.) I […]

The 7 Most Anticipated Fall Movies 2012

As a kid, I got excited for summer movie season, because it brought sequels, superheroes, dinosaurs — that kind of thing. But the past few summers haven’t given us more than one or two blockbusters worth getting riled up about. These days, my event movies tend to be much smaller in scale, featuring powerhouse acting […]

The Not-Oscars 2011

It’s that time of year again, folks! What I like to call “movie Christmas.” And like an actual holiday, the Academy Awards often end up as more of a disappointment than anything else — any Oscars handed out to not-so-great nominated films like Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and The Iron Lady can be chalked […]

Top Ten Films: 2011

Is it me, or were 2011’s movies more united by theme this year than is usual? Nostalgia was the big one, with several titles capitalizing not just on our nostalgia of a past era, but of movies from a past era — from silent films to Spielberg blockbusters and everything in between. Films like The […]

The Not-Oscars 2010

(Originally posted over at Fabulous Apple. In preparation for this year’s “Not-Oscars,” here’s what I said about last year…) We all know the Oscars don’t always get it right. Of course, “right” is a matter of opinion — but with some perspective, there are a few awards and nominations we collectively agree did not go […]

The Girlfight Experience: Gina Carano Goes ‘Haywire’

2011 is long gone — we’re a month into the new year, yet every movie I’ve seen this January is a 2011 release. By design. The studios always roll out way more movies than we could ever possibly see all at once, then let us scramble to catch them all in order to be caught […]

When Peppy Met George: The Year Of Loving Nostalgically

(Movies discussed in this post: Beginners, Certified Copy, Forget Me Not, One Day, Midnight In Paris, The Artist, The Future.) I have two questions for you: 1) Have you ever been in love? And, if so — 2) Was it quirky?