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(10/11/13 4:42pm)
Writer/director Nicole Holofcener’s witty new film, Enough Said, is the story of a middle-aged, divorced masseuse, Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who anxiously begins a romance with a quirky, middle-aged divorced man, Albert (James Gandolfini). Concurrently, she develops a friendship with Marianne (Catherine Keener), a poet who loves to complain about how terrible her life was while she was married, which Eva doesn’t mind, until she realizes that her new boyfriend is the ex-husband her new friend passionately hates. The plot hook is compelling and, though the film meanders slowly at times, the writing is excellent and the acting is realistic superb. It is, if nothing else, a phenomenally realistic and intelligent story about how true love makes us better–after it makes us a whole lot worse
(09/13/13 7:02pm)
The clever trailer for Nicole Holofcener’s new movie "Enough Said" – about a middle-aged divorcée who begins dating a man she secretly discovers to be the disliked ex-husband ofher whiny new friend – turns an otherwise simple plot into a witty, wonderful observance ofthe natural awkwardness of relationships, romantic or otherwise.
(09/12/13 9:35am)
This is nothing new. For over a decade now—this summer and its lineup being the most recent and obvious example—critics, professionals and amateurs alike have locked their hawk–eyed gazes on the biggest fad in Hollywood. The fad in question? Turning comic books into epic, morally–charged, action–packed dramas and subsequently writing up clouds of pensive, pervasive analyses of what this means for cinema.
(09/05/13 3:00pm)
Both a "Pride and Prejudice" adaptation and parody of the fad surrounding the book’s legacy, "Austenland" is about a lovesick, Mr. Darcy-obsessed young woman (Keri Russell) who travels to a British theme park that simulates a fantasy of life in Regency England – complete with a love triangle with a handsome misanthrope and a rakish stable boy. Though topically creative, and featuring several hilarious caricatures – such as the prissy, matriarchal owner (Jane Seymour), and a ditzy, oversexed American tourist (Jennifer Coolidge) – the plot is goofy, and not deep enough to respect the Austen literary tradition. Still, it’s a thorough, clever riff on the phenomenal fantasy that life (and love) in an age of manners and corsets is somehow more satisfying.
(01/31/13 10:45am)
Almost three years ago, right before I first came to Penn, the "good luck" and "bon voyage" that I had been hearing all summer from friends and other well–wishers turned into “don’t party too hard!” and “remember, school comes first!” I quickly learned that Penn is wildly known as “the Social Ivy:” the Ivy most affiliated with partying.
(11/09/12 10:25am)
There is something classic about French director Olivier Assayas’s new film “Something in the Air” (originally titled "Après Mai"). The Best Screenplay recipient at the Venice Film Festival is a set during the European youth riots of the late 1960s and tells the story of several young friends caught up in the frenzy. It’s an “Across the Universe” that makes sense and a “The Graduate” that’s somehow less adult. As with that film, comparison between generations (and art forms) is the predominant theme here. With its sun–bleached, quivering camera shots, haunting, footstep–heavy soundwork and costumes exquisite in their 60s, Free People–esque charm, “Something in the Air” is simply breathtaking.
(10/25/12 9:12am)
The trailer for Paul Schrader’s neon–lit, lusty and dusty desert melodrama “The Canyons” communicates passion and danger in 21st century Los Angeles and an ancestral history in Hollywood pulp.
(10/25/12 9:12am)
With the release of her pensive new album, “Red,” Taylor Swift shows off a more mature version of herself. The record's only anti–boy rant is the cutely cranky “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Everything else — such as the dubstep–esque “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and “The Last Time,” a surging duet with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody — is adult. Both “22” and “Starlight” are about the timelessness of youth. The perky “Stay Stay Stay” mentions groceries and settling down. And “Everything Has Changed,” a raw duet with Ed Sheerhan, is a graduation into the indie coffeehouse jams of the thoughtful twentysomething. She’s still wholesome, lively, and genuine, but she’s older — and she’s seeing anything but red.
(10/04/12 9:04am)
Last week saw the premiere of a trailer for perhaps the most culturally relevant film of the year—about an environmental battle for the soul of the small–town American Farm, directed by Gus Van Sant, and titled “Promised Land.” It’s about a kingpin natural gas salesman (Matt Damon) and his assistant (Frances McDormand) who arrive in a farm town to modernize it, only to be met by hesitant residents and an angry farmer determined to fight against his destructive efforts (John Krasinski).
(04/19/12 9:21am)
Think Like a Man calls itself a romantic comedy, but it’s more like an endless infomercial that interrupts regularly–scheduled programming to tell you things you already know.The movie details the exploits of four dysfunctional guys who chase four girls, and how those girls coincidentally learn to understand male behavior and breed better beaus through Steve Harvey’s real–life book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.Unfortunately, the movie becomes a two–hour advertisement for Harvey’s dating manual and a demonstration of romantic CPR — repetitively, lifelessly showing how to resuscitate an inanimate relationship. There are some funny moments, but much like its moral — in order to experience romance, you should play psychological dress–up — this meddlesome film is too comfortable pretending to be other things.
(04/12/12 9:24am)
Few people who have seen the original material will go to see The Three Stooges, a Farrelly Brothers adaptive consolidation of the 1930s vaudeville–turned–film comedy team. The now–21st century knuckleheads manage to save an orphanage, stop a murder and rule reality TV, all in 90 minutes. Unfortunately, anyone interested in old–fashioned slapstick should just watch the originals. While Sean Hayes (Larry), Chris Diamontopoulos (Moe) and Will Sasso (Curly) try earnestly to capture their respective personas (and almost succeed visually), their admittedly well–researched attempts would better serve an SNL skit. They cannot sustain an hour and a half's worth of lackluster plot, poorly modernized scenarios, inane gags and corny dialogue. The film ekes out some laughs, but ultimately, the only people who deserve to be socked Stooge–style are the producers.
(04/05/12 9:52am)
There’s a story many aspiring filmmakers know — probably because it’s a ‘George Washington and the Cherry Tree’–style trope of mainstream film history — that tells of a youthful Steven Spielberg, back when he interned at Universal Studios. In 1968, so the story goes, the young cinephile made a short film called Amblin’, a film so precocious that Sid Sheinberg, Universal’s Vice President, watched it and subsequently offered him a job. The moral of this story is a clear warning never to underestimate a 20–something–year–old with persistence and a movie camera.
(04/05/12 9:37am)
It would be belittling to place Damsels in Distress — a fun, dark comedy about three prim girls and their nonplussed friend who crusade against the ‘male barbarism’ at their college — in the ordinary ‘war of the sexes’ genre. It’s a charming, complicated coming–of–age farce (full of deadpan acting, relationship disasters, borderline mental illness, alternate identities, elaborate dance numbers, chivalry, Romans and rainbows) where an ensemble cast highlights every painful, terrible, hopeful aspect of modern boy/girl interactions. The cinematography is sunny, and the dialogue, which parodies the language of frat boys, New England liberal arts students and preppy girls, never fails to amuse. Told in chapters, the plot of this adept satire stagnates when it should rise, but the film (a poker-faced Animal House in a dress) is still a heroic effort, and quite capable of defending itself.
(03/22/12 9:31am)
As many of the movies released nowadays are bastardizations of old TV shows or children’s books, there are few adaptations less irritating than the refreshingly well–constructed The Hunger Games. Based on the sensational novel about a post–apocalyptic America where children fight to the death in grandiose gladiatorial tournaments, this movie doesn’t try to set itself apart from the book.
(03/15/12 9:47am)
All I’ve seriously ever wanted from a bus ride is to lean back in my seat, close my eyes and concentrate on hoping no one can hear that I’m listening to the same Simon & Garfunkel song on repeat.
(02/23/12 10:09am)
It’s surprising that Salmon Fishing in the Yemen actually has to do with other things: it's about a depressed ichthyologist, a consultant and a spin–doctor who fund the title’s impossible ecological venture to shroud military disasters in the Middle East (based on a popular political satire of the same name). It’s also got romance, comedy, action, terrorism, transcendentalism and lots of aquatic symbolism — everything, really, except any trace of the scathing, political, “Wag the Fish” indictment it should really have. Well–made and well–acted, it is heartwarming and wholesome, but for politically–inclined audiences, this is just an awkward red herring.