NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | Movies+TV | Reviews | AAN.org

Sacha Baron Cohen's Shock Tactics in 'Bruno' Are Ass Backwardsnew

In scene after scene, Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles throw transgressive images and suggestions at the audience, daring them to take offence. It's shock comedy based entirely on gay panic.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 07-13-2009 | Reviews

Tags: comedies, Sacha Baron Cohen, Larry Charles, Bruno

Kaufman Conquers: 'Synecdoche, New York' is a Surreal Surprisenew

Kaufman's directorial debut is as conceptually daring and narratively complex as his screenplays for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Elements of all three films can be spotted in this one, but with his own hand on the joystick Kaufman burrows further into his idiosyncratic world than ever before.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 11-10-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York

'The Tiger's Tail' is a Tepid Talenew

I saw John Boorman's film in January 2007, when it closed the Palm Springs Film Festival. At the time, it felt like a casual disappointment from a once-great director, destined for DVD obscurity. I'm not entirely sure why it merits theatrical release now, almost two years later.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 10-27-2008 | Reviews

Tags: John Boorman, The Tiger's Tail

Marc Abraham Makes His Directorial Debut With 'Flash of Genius'new

The result is a plodding, thumpingly obvious gloss on the decade-long efforts of Dr. Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, to be properly acknowledged for his efforts after Ford cheated him out of the money and the credit.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 10-06-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Flash of Genius, Marc Abraham

'Tell Us More' Delivers Hitchcockian Thrillsnew

Guillaume Canet's taut, gritty thriller went straight to video, in Canada, in January. And nobody noticed. This is a shame, because the film is an excellent example of the sort of crackling psychological thriller that Americans don't seem to know how to make any more.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 09-29-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Guillaume Canet, Tell Us More

'Sukiyaki Western Django': Takashi Miike's Misfirenew

Set up in a brief, bizarre introduction by Quentin Tarantino in cowpoke garb, the film is the story of an introverted gunslinger who arrives in a remote village where two colour-coded gangs, the Genji Whites and the Heike Reds, are locked in an endless feud.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 09-22-2008 | Reviews

Tags: western, Takashi Miike, Sukiyaki Western Django

Brilliant 'Baghead' Mashes Genres with Unexpected Resultsnew

At first the film looks like the latest entry in the indie sub-genre that's come to be known as "mumblecore" -- but no sooner has the movie established its quartet of characters than it switches gears and goes somewhere creepier and far more intense than mumblecore pictures have previously ventured.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 08-11-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Baghead, mumblecore, Jay and Mark Duplass

'Made of Honor' Comes Made to Insultnew

It's the dude version of My Best Friend's Wedding, without the implied judgment that made Julia Roberts seem like kind of an awful person by the end of it.

NOW Magazine | Norman Wilner | 05-02-2008 | Reviews

Tags: comedy, romance, Sydney Pollack, Michelle Monaghan, Made of Honor, Paul Weiland, Beau Garrett, Kadeem Hardison, Patrick Dempsey, Richmond Arquette