Author: Jonathan Eig
The best films and performances of 2015 (so far)
I know it seems like the height of foolishness to put out a “best of” list when there is still a week to go in the first half of 2015. But I am going out on a limb and assuming that Ted 2 will not crack my Best Picture list even after I get around…
‘San Andreas’ and the Bad Habit of Eating Popcorn While the World Burns
Director Brad Peyton and writer Carlton Cuse had the chance to do something truly remarkable in San Andreas, something that might have sent a shockwave through mainstream American film equal to the quake that decimates the Pacific coast in their movie. Something that might have changed the course of human history. The fact that they…
Reviewing ‘About Elly’: Is Asghar Farhadi the Finest Filmmaker Working Today?
It begins life as an Iranian Big Chill and at the end of Act 1, it morphs into Antonioni’s iconic L’Avventura. But by the time the various plot intrigues have finished spinning out, Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly has emerged as something unique and wondrous: a taut drama full of perfectly-drawn characters and effective suspense, all…
REC 4: Reviewing the Apocalypse
While many of my younger colleagues were eagerly anticipating 2015 as the year of Avengers and Star Wars and Mad Max and Jurassic Park, I will admit I was primarily looking forward to finally getting a chance to watch two other movies. The first was Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly. I consider Farhadi to be among…
Remembering Six Unforgettable Films About Amnesia
Such is the nature of memory. Many years ago, probably when I was in my teens, I caught the tail end of a melodrama on television. I remember a courtroom scene, a question of amnesia and identity, and a chilling finale. For the longest time, that’s all I could recall. But like Citizen Kane’s Mr.…