Rating: 3.25 stars (out of 4) I’m not sure another movie has produced a bigger disconnect between its teased images and final product than Spring Breakers. The advance buzz promised…well, let’s not sugarcoat this—a T&A film with a bunch of attractive, heretofore-innocent girls going sexy, plus James Franco as a BAMF gangster. And it’s not…
The next time somebody complains that a supposedly ‘real’ movie takes liberties with the truth (like, say, The Social Network), I want to show them The Bling Ring. This is what happens when you don’t dramatize your movie. For all I know, the events portrayed here may well be accurate representations of the actions of…
A painfully inept film, full of dialogue and plot points that any professional writer should have rejected without hesitation Seven years ago, I felt like the only person in the world who liked Superman Returns. Over time, my feelings have softened considerably, but my childlike affection for the idea of Superman was enough to blind me…
The Usual Suspects — Boring Desert Island Discs I Still Love: AC/DC – Back in Black The Clash – London Calling Fugazi – 13 Songs Green Day – Dookie Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American My Bloody Valentine – Loveless Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory Radiohead…
I wanted to love the Great Gatsby adaptation so much. I tried, I really did. But when a studio moves a prominent release from prime Oscar season to the following summer, that’s usually a bad sign for the movie’s prospects. And in this case, smoke meant fire. Fitzgerald’s Great American Novel is set in the…
In the summer of 2011, I was privileged enough to see Green Day play an impromptu, intimate concert at an Orange County, California venue normally reserved for bands who have sold about 1/100th as many records as they have. I had just moved out to southern California, and the area greeted me by placing me within…
All-American Rejects (2002) – 4 stars (out of 5) Move Along (2005) – 4.5 stars When the World Comes Down (2008) – 3.5 stars Kids in the Street (2012) – 4 stars Blessed with a great name, underrated talent, and the good fortune to enter the musical world at the height of the teen emo-pop surge, The…
Just for a Day (1991) – 5 stars Souvlaki (1993) – 4.5 stars Pygmalion (1995) – 3 stars I was surprised to discover that I’ve never written about any musical group that would be classified as ‘shoegaze.’ That genre’s emphasis on heavenly washes of guitar sounds, gentle vocals, heavy feedback, and timeless melodies worked wonders…
Last week, I found the script for the pilot of Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming new HBO show The Newsroom; the day after I finished reading it, Dan sent me the new series’ trailer. Unfortunately, the show’s genesis has twisted my mind into a cognitively-dissonant pretzel that’s harder to untangle than recent Gossip Girl plotlines. The freight train that is my…
The Descendants won the top honor tonight at the Golden Globes, and it’s threatening to make a legitimate Oscar splash. Even in a truly horrendous year for mainstream American movies, the potential of this winning Best Picture concerns me as much as The Social Network losing last year did. I’ll preface this review by saying…