AltWeeklies Wire
Doc About Chevron's Eco Destruction, While Better Than Most, Still Doesn't Measure Up as Artnew
Crude touches all manifestations of oil greed which P.T. Anderson avoided when making his contemptuous anti-American pseudo-epic There Will Be Blood. Anderson kowtowed to trite anti-Bush cynicism, not even doing justice to the muckraking source novel, Oil!, by Upton Sinclair. Blood was trendy, Crude is aggrieved.
New York Press |
Armond White |
09-10-2009 |
Reviews
'Amreeka' Skillfully Evokes American Post-9/11 Uneasenew
Amreeka hops over every one of its predictable, carefully laid-out hurdles.
New York Press |
Armond White |
09-03-2009 |
Reviews
Ang Lee and James Schamus Take a Dry Look at Free-Love in 'Taking Woodstock'new
The same year as Woodstock, Arthur Penn's anti-bucolic Alice's Restaurant memorably said farewell to hippiedom's illusions. Penn's insights seemed ahead of his time; It's depressing that he was also ahead of Lee and Schamus 40 years later.
New York Press |
Armond White |
08-28-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee
'Inglourious Basterds' Uses the Holocaust as a Pretext for Gore, Sadism and Fanboy Lorenew
"Back to Barbarism" is the theme of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Its misspelled title and cheesy homage to a 1970s grindhouse flick (by Enzo Castellari) all mock the notion of sophistication. Yet it is truly unsophisticated.
New York Press |
Armond White |
08-20-2009 |
Reviews
New Documentary 'Art & Copy' Celebrates the Men Behind Ads by Skimming the Surfacenew
Advertising has long been perceived as a mirror reflecting reality back to consumers as a wish-fulfillment exercise. In that sense, Art & Copy is a worthy addition to a time-honored tradition.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
08-20-2009 |
Reviews
Todd Graff's 'Bandslam' is the Best American Movie This Summernew
If the late John Hughes had taught the generation who grew up on Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Home Alone anything beyond narcissism, then Bandslam would be getting sky-high praise.
New York Press |
Armond White |
08-20-2009 |
Reviews
Making a Compelling Film is Not Julia Child's Playnew
A Talking Heads song gives this pedestrian, snobbish film a couple minutes of genuine art - and fun. Julie & Julia doesn’t match the delights of sensual/aesthetic food movies ... it merely dramatizes Julia Child and Julie Powell's contrasting routes to media success.
New York Press |
Armond White |
08-06-2009 |
Reviews
Documentaries Don't Get More Compelling Than 'The Cove'new
The Cove is one of the best documentaries of 2009. It deserves an audience for its aesthetic beauty alone. But the film, like almost every issue-driven doc, lacks much-needed nuance, and audiences should remember to approach anything set out to manipulate their heartstrings with a decent level of skepticism.
New York Press |
David Berke |
07-31-2009 |
Reviews
The Dardenne Brothers Deliver More Visual Poetry in 'Lorna's Silence'new
The Belgian film team of Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne do small things profoundly. Their new movie, titled Lorna's Silence, makes its strongest, most persuasive moments when Albanian immigrant Lorna silently weighs her options and her moral choices.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-31-2009 |
Reviews
'Thirst' is Out to Impress Somebody With its Perverse Outragenew
Bad boy Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook gives himself away in the birthday party orgy of Thirst when Tae-ju, a tantrummy young housewife, gets her wish:The undead priest Sang-hyun punctures Taeju's arteries and makes her one of the unholy. It's a brat's dream come true.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-31-2009 |
Reviews
Altman Knockoff 'In the Loop' Doesn't Measure Up to the Masternew
Instead of inspiring geniuses, Iraq war backlash has only resulted in snarky self-righteousness that -- from Charlie Wilson's War and now British import In the Loop -- has demonstrated the low ebb of modern comedy.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-23-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Armando Iannucci, In the Loop
'Summer Hours' is Close to a Masterpiecenew
This is not a sentimental catalogue like Arnaud Desplechin's overpraised (and ultimately unpopular) A Christmas Tale. Assayas reconciles change and regret, which gives a spectral sense to material value.
New York Press |
Armond White |
05-14-2009 |
Reviews
With 'Angels & Demons,' Ron Howard Continues His Attempt to Imitate Spielberg -- and Failsnew
This overwrought chase/final-countdown movie is as banal as the genre comes. It's not a well-made action film; it's just expensively made. Howard's incompetence hides behind high-priced collaborators and goofy F/X.
New York Press |
Armond White |
05-14-2009 |
Reviews
'Next Day Air' is More Profound than Most Art-House Farenew
Opening without fanfare or official validation, Benny Bloom's film displays more creativity and relevance to our ways of thinking (about money and relationships) than movies that pose as art.
New York Press |
Armond White |
05-14-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Benny Bloom, Next Day Air
New Doc on 'A Chorus Line' Misses the Marknew
Reality TV has squandered the great impulse toward cultural-political exploration by turning democracy and the documentary into bread and circuses. This tragedy defeats Every Little Step, the first doc to chronicle A Chorus Line's creation.
New York Press |
Armond White |
04-16-2009 |
Reviews
