AltWeeklies Wire
Denzel vs. Russell: The Winner Gets All the Heroinnew
American Gangster is a blunt brick of a movie; neither very stylish nor terribly complex, it still takes 157 minutes to batter home its muscular tale of men who speak softly and carry big guns.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-31-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: American Gangster, Ridley Scott
'Lake of Fire' Elevates Abortion Debatenew
It's strange to describe an abortion documentary as a labor of love, but Lake of Fire -- an elegant film, exhaustive in scope -- is precisely that.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-24-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Lake of Fire, Tony Kaye
Lars and the Fake Movienew
At first blush, it's hard to believe Craig Gillespie has directed both Lars and the Real Girl and Mr. Woodcock in the same year. The movies share slightly risque premises but otherwise couldn't appear more contradictory.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-24-2007 |
Reviews
City of Lost Childrennew
What's with all the dead babies in Boston? There's something distinctly crude about the simultaneous arrival of two new movies -- Gone Baby Gone and Reservation Road -- that focus on slain children and bereaved parents.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-17-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Ben Affleck, Gone Baby Gone
Wes Anderson's Man-Boysnew
The thing that elevates The Darjeeling Limited, what makes it a movie well worth seeing, is how aware the director is of limitations -- in his characters and himself.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-10-2007 |
Reviews
'Into the Wild': The Long Goodbyenew
Sean Penn gives Chris McCandless one last embrace.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-03-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Into the Wild, Sean Penn
'Lust, Caution' is Drained of All Delightnew
The film is sonorous and dull in the same way as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: It takes disreputable, pulpy pleasures and beats them to death with decorum.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-03-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Ang Lee, Lust, Caution
Robert Benton on 'Feast of Love'new
Once in Benton's company, his generosity becomes instantly apparent: He's quick to praise the actors and cinematographers he's worked with, often crediting his films' innovations almost entirely to his collaborators.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-26-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Feast of Love, Robert Benton
Peter Berg Unleashes Violence On Saudi Arabia -- and Usnew
Berg has made an action movie called The Kingdom that is set in Saudi Arabia, that includes a great many bastards getting wasted, and is ultimately a responsible and even a very fine piece of filmmaking.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-26-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Peter Berg, The Kingdom
'Eastern Promises': An Examination of Mother Russianew
Director David Cronenberg has carefully constructed a story about a motherland poisoning its children -- a repeated theme in Russian history, from Ivan's cannibalism to Stalin’s 20 million.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-19-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises
Paul Haggis Preaches Bad News About Iraqnew
The movie needs him, though. In the Valley of Elah wants to be a Deer Hunter for a new quagmire, but instead it plays as a very special episode of Law & Order.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-19-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Paul Haggis, In the Valley of Elah
Did They Forget the Script?new
Quiet City represents a strong progression for Katz as a visual storyteller, but the characters seem to lack the ability to articulate a complete sentence.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-12-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Aaron Katz, Quiet City
This is for All the Lonely (and Finnish) Peoplenew
The bloom has fallen off the fable-spinning formalism of directors like Aki Kaurismaki, Jim Jarmusch and even Wes Anderson; what critics once saw as sweetly askew in their work is now suspected of being arch and self-conscious.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
09-05-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Aki Kaurismaki, Lights in the Dusk
'Balls of Fury': Who Needs Jokes? They've Got Ping-Pong!new
This movie is the sort of comedy in which things are not funny because they are ironic or funny because they're absurd or even funny because they're strangely juxtaposed, but simply funny because they're there.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-29-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Ben Garant, Balls of Fury
'Resurrecting the Champ': Punching His Weightnew
It's a movie about wanting to be better than you are, but its real lesson is how Josh Hartnett, at least this once, has accepted who he is.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-22-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Resurrecting the Champ, Rod Lurie
