AltWeeklies Wire
Crowd-Pleaser Cameron Crowe Does the Thing He Does
Cameron Crowe casts a heart-warming cinematic spell that will milk many a tear from its widespread target audience.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
12-12-2011 |
Reviews
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journeynew
A documentary on the man behind Elmo could've been a fluff piece. Turns out it's one of the year's best films and a heartfelt exploration of the creative process.
Interview: Guns N' Roses' Dj Ashbanew
After nearly two decades, Indiana native Axl Rose is back in town with a new Hoosier guitarist in tow.
NUVO |
Jeff Napier |
12-12-2011 |
Profiles & Interviews
Cole Smithey’s Worst & Best Films of 2011
This year’s 10 best films showed an exceptional amount of originality, rigor, and inventiveness. It’s with great pleasure that I share my favorite examples of why I keep returning to the cinema day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
12-12-2011 |
Movies
In Take Shelter, Michael Shannon Defines Slow-burn Agonynew
Set in a rural Ohio of backyard rubbish piles and church suppers, Take Shelter is a skin-crawling heartland thriller in which visions of disaster haunt family man Curtis (Michael Shannon).
Charleston City Paper |
Felicia Feaster |
12-08-2011 |
Reviews
To the End of Hawaii with George Clooney in The Descendantsnew
Director Alexander Payne—who has married and divorced since Paul Giamatti sipped wine in his last film, Sideways—now presents a character who enjoys redemption only once his wife is brain-dead and on a ventilator.
I Scream, You Scream… We all Scream over Stephen King's 'Bag of Bones'new
The miniseries wastes no time scaring you to death. With horror movies I can usually keep my wits about me at least through the credit sequence, but not this time, thanks to merciless music, editing, and imagery.
San Antonio Current |
Dean Robbins |
12-08-2011 |
TV
Depression, destruction, and selfishness play out in Melancholianew
In the first half of Melancholia, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) slowly but surely sabotages her own wedding reception, and you can't really blame her, because there is no one there who doesn't demand something from her or from the occasion.
Charleston City Paper |
Susan Cohen |
12-07-2011 |
Reviews
Tags: Melancholia
Melancholianew
Melancholia opens with a series of dramatically lit, startling dream-like images: falling birds rain during the day, a collapsing horse falls painfully slow in the dark. Wrapped in a wedding dress, Kirsten Dunst floats down a stream like a waking Ophelia.
San Antonio Current |
Scott Andrews |
12-07-2011 |
Reviews
To the end of the world with Lars von Trier in Melancholianew
Melancholia is a lingering, thorny, beautiful experience that makes our doomed planet and our fickle lives richer for the tiny amount of time we're here to appreciate them.
A First Class Bitchnew
Young Adult is pitch (perfect) black comedy.
Boise Weekly |
George Prentice |
12-07-2011 |
Reviews
Tags: Young Adult, Diablo Cody
5 Things We'll Miss About Communitynew
Community is about to disappear from NBC's lineup, and no one's sure when it's coming back.
Houston Press |
Daniel Carlson |
12-06-2011 |
TV
Cold War Spies: John le Carré's Novel Goes Full Tilt
International espionage during the Cold War period of the early ‘70s, as practiced by British MI6 double agents, is one very icy dish.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
12-05-2011 |
Reviews
Werner Herzog's Riveting Death Row Docnew
Herzog's fervent fans surely rushed out to see Into the Abyss over the weekend, but for those who need coaxing, let me urge you to do the same in the limited time left for this title.
Pedro Almodovar's bizarre but bloodless The Skin I Live Innew
The Skin I Live In is a hyper-realized illustration of Almodovar's fondness for audience manipulation.
