DVD Review: ‘The Zero Theorem’
★★★☆☆ The latest mind-bending science fiction fantasy feature from American animator and director Terry Gilliam, The Zero Theorem (2013) depicts an admirable quest for...
★★☆☆☆ “An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,” Percy Shelley once wrote in his sonnet England in 1819. He was firing his barbs at King George III but the words could just as well be used for any number of English monarchs including Henry VIII.
★★★★★ Turkish master director Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns to the Cannes Croisette with About Dry Grasses, a wonderful wintry meditation on male fragility and the way we often make our own hells and then deceive ourselves that we’re trapped.
★★★★☆ From sub-Saharan Africa to Afghanistan, Syria to Iraq and Iran, the climate crisis, drought, war, and oppression has created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. It is treated as an ethical conundrum, but it isn’t. Either we wish to save those who are in danger of dying, or all our talk of human rights is just so much hot air. This is the core concern of Green Border.
★★★★☆ With Luca Guadagnino’s terrific Challengers, the acclaimed director of Call Me By Your Name brings us the sub-genre we never knew we needed: the erotic tennis thriller.
★★☆☆☆ Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s “Abigail” mashes up crime caper and monster movie, but fails to deliver fear or humor. Spoilery trailers and unoriginal characters overshadow promising elements, resulting in a dull, lifeless experience lacking creativity and wit.
★★☆☆☆ Maïwenn’s French period drama Jeanne du Barry is the perfect opening salvo for the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It is as glitzy and gaudy as the festival itself, with its vacuous politics drowned out by the thunderous sound of it slapping its own back.
★★★☆☆ The latest mind-bending science fiction fantasy feature from American animator and director Terry Gilliam, The Zero Theorem (2013) depicts an admirable quest for...
★★★☆☆ A trance-like meditation on humanity’s relationship with technology, Godfrey Reggio’s non-narrative documentary Visitors (2013) is an anthropological examination of postmodernity and capitalism’s affects...
★★☆☆☆ Todd Phillips’ The Hangover (2009) has a lot to answer for. Not only did it spawn two unfortunate sequels, it has embedded a...
★★★★☆ “Everything is awesome” according to the whimsical song that’s played repeatedly across plastic protagonist Emmett’s (the voice of Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic...
★★★★☆ A quasi-verité document of The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania, A Hard Day’s Night (1964) is the unlikeliest of triumphs. The fact...
★★★★★ Comprised of all six of the director’s small but remarkable directorial output, The Essential Jacques Tati Collection is a lovingly crafted celebration of...
★★★★☆ In his 2002 documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture, Robert Evans proclaimed there are three sides to every story: “My side, your...
★★★★★ “It’s the story of my life. I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop” is just one of the many sublime, double-edged...