Tag: film
American Sniper: Chris Kyle, Clint Eastwood, American Manhood
American Sniper, an account of the life and times of Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the most lethal sniper in American history, bears the classic marks of a Clint Eastwood film. Eastwood’s career, intentionally or unintentionally, has always been deeply entangled with ideas of masculinity – ideas which cumulatively seem to suggest an overarching vision of…
The Inherent Vice of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice
Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice) occupies the ground halfway between the calm competence of Easy Rawlins (Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress, 1995) and the affable idiocy of the Dude (Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski, 1998). Of course, as L.A.P.I.s go (that’s Los Angeles private detective, for the acronymicly-challenged), you…
10 Great Films Made on a Small Budget in 2014
Warning: What follows has something to do with math. But don’t worry. It’s not very complicated. I can’t read a balance sheet. The only thing I know about sines is that I am a Capricorn. Cosines? My parents cosigned my first car loan. Anything with the word “multivariable” scares me more than Russell Crowe singing.…
One Movie Fan’s Most Anticipated Films for 2015
As hard as it is to believe, the year in 2014 movies is over, and another year of cinema is about to begin. Anticipating movies is half the fun, and 2015 has often been described as one of the biggest years for film in quite some time. I mean, think about it. Jedis, dinosaurs, Pixar,…
Separating the Movies from the Mayhem of 2014
Most movies live lives of quiet desperation. A few win awards, a few make boatloads of money, and a few go down in history as really and truly mattering. But for most, they ply their meager craft for a brief period, hoping to earn a laugh or a cry or a few dollars, and then…