Category: Reviews
Why the Armenian-Genocide Film ‘The Promise’ Is Crucial Cinema
It’s easy to be skeptical about preachy “man must” movies. You know: “Man must” not make war. “Man must” not ruin the Earth. “Man must” not be cruel to other people. The Promise (2016) is not a “man must” movie. Rather, it’s “must-see.” The film, which follows a love triangle as it progresses during the…
Review: James Gray’s ‘The Lost City of Z’
James Gray’s The Lost City of Z has moments that hearken back to any old Hollywood adventure epic – the grand journeys of yesteryear in which destination and discovery were the sole rewards. The music swells, the actors look stalwart, sly and in charge, and the scope widens to reveal a scenic vista worth many…
Review: Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Graduation’
In the opening shot of Cristian Mungiu’s groundbreaking 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), we see fish swimming in a bowl. Behind the bowl, a poster of New York stands as a paradise forever out of reach. That suggestion of a free world beyond the reach of everyday Romanians becomes far more overt…
Puppet the Critic Show: Ghost In The Shell
I’m not going to lie to you; I was never a huge fan of either the original manga or anime of Ghost In The Shell when I was younger. Actually, I didn’t even want to give them a chance, being that I cared less about comics as vehicles for ideas than about the ways in…
Zach Braff’s lazy remake of ‘Going in Style’
This will be the second consecutive piece I have written for Curnblog which begins by referencing an earlier piece I have written for Curnblog. That may well indicate that I have written too many things for Curnblog, or perhaps that I have just run out of ideas. But if I have run out of ideas,…