AltWeeklies Wire
'Inglourious Basterds' Brings Late-Career Glory to Christoph Waltznew
It's a familiar part of the Tarantino mythos -- the director plucks a faded star from the brink of obscurity and restores him or her to their former glory. Only, unlike John Travolta, Pam Grier and others before him, Waltz was never that kind of star in the first place.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tarantino Picks His 20 Favorite Flicks of the Past 17 Yearsnew
When Ella Taylor asked me to rename my top five films of all time, I rattled off the obvious titles. She then asked, “Any since the last 17 years?”
L.A. Weekly |
Quentin Tarantino |
08-21-2009 |
Movies
Quentin Tarantino Serves Up Hitler's Head in 'Inglourious Basterds'new
Inglourious Basterds has next to nothing to do with Jews, Nazis or World War II, though Winston Churchill has a funny cameo and Joseph Goebbels a minor, if crucial, role as a twisted auteur of nationalist cinema. It's a highly entertaining, graphically bloody and woozily romantic romp.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
08-21-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Guitar Heroes Talk Axes, Licks and Other Euphemisms in 'It Might Get Loud'new
This compelling documentary explores the inspirations, techniques and creative processes of three of the music world's best-known living axmen, each chosen to represent different generations and sonic approaches.
L.A. Weekly |
Lina Lecaro |
08-14-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
'District 9' Uses Alien Invasion as Apartheid Metaphornew
With its corrugated tin sheds and abject poverty, District 9 stands in for the township settlements where more than a million South African blacks still live without basic human services, two decades after the end of apartheid.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
Hayao Miyazaki Dives Under the Sea for His Latest Environmental Fairy Talenew
Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, by way of Jules Verne, Miyazaki's Ponyo sticks to Andersen's basic story of an enchanted sea creature and her love for a human -- except, in the Miyazaki version, the mermaid princess is an anthropomorphic goldfish, and her handsome prince is a 5-year-old schoolboy still in full possession of his baby teeth.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki
'Somers Town' Gets at the Heart of Working-Class Londonnew
Without ever trivializing his characters’ meager circumstances or resorting to the rags-to-riches fantasy of Slumdog Millionaire, Shane Meadows has made a lovely film about the ability of the imagination to offset the harshness of reality.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-10-2009 |
Reviews
That Old Black Potter Magic Continues to Beguile in 'Half-Blood Prince'new
Going a few shades blacker than 2007's already funereal Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, this penultimate Potterpicture includes the firebombing of a series regular's home, an episode of demonic possession that wouldn't look out of place in an Exorcist movie, and multiple attempts on the life of Harry himself. The greater threat, however, is those unseen forces that compete for the hearts and minds of impressionable boy wizards.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
07-17-2009 |
Reviews
Battered But Not Broken, Jean-Jacques Beineix Returnsnew
The embattled Parisian director brings a reissue, a retrospective and a project in progress.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
07-10-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Jean-Jacques Beineix, drama films
Rebecca Yeldham Fights the Good Fight at Helm of the L.A. Film Festivalnew
The 41-year-old Yeldham came onboard as festival director this past March during a tense moment for LAFF and its parent organization, Film Independent. She had to hit the ground running, with barely three months left to plan for the festival's 2009 edition.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
06-19-2009 |
Movies
Woody Allen on Life, Actors, Younger Women and His 40th Filmnew
Allen's Whatever Works marks the realization of a project he first conceived in the 1970s as a vehicle for Zero Mostel, then set aside following the actor's untimely death. The result is a light comic burlesque -- a minor key but eminently pleasurable Allen confection
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
06-12-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Away We Go' Is an Unaffecting Work of Staggering Vacuitynew
Not surprisingly, in Dave Eggers' first original screenplay, Away We Go, the characters never shut up.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
06-05-2009 |
Reviews
Dreaming in Film: At Cannes and Its Renegade Festivalsnew
A look at the scene in Cannes, where the best movies aren't necessarily the ones in the competition.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
05-22-2009 |
Movies
Tags: Cannes Film Festival
Freaks and Freaks: 'Frownland'new
Like a signal flare rising above the streets of L.A.'s Fairfax District, Frownland announces that underground cinema is alive and well.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
05-01-2009 |
Reviews
Boxing, Sex and Madness: 'Tyson'new
In a new Tyson documentary, the boxer tells it in his own words.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
05-01-2009 |
Reviews
