Posted in November 2011

Review: Attack the Block, 2011, dir. Joe Cornish

Review: Attack the Block, 2011, dir. Joe Cornish

You’ve seen movies like Attack the Block before– movies where an enemy-of-all emerges and threatens to destroy, devour, or dominate all life until being defeated by a thoroughly ordinary hero or group of heroes– yet Joe Cornish’ directorial debut stands out as one of the year’s most thoroughly original and memorable releases regardless. Largely, this … Continue reading

Review: The Trip, 2011, dir. Michael Winterbottom

Review: The Trip, 2011, dir. Michael Winterbottom

The Trip‘s primary, or perhaps ideal, audience may be comprised of frequent adherents of the Top Chef and aficionados of wry British wit. Michael Winterbottom’s film spends most of its time with its two stars, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, but the acclaimed director is playing loose enough here that he feels safe sneaking off … Continue reading

Playing Detective In Carpenter’s “The Thing”

Playing Detective In Carpenter’s “The Thing”

(Author’s foreword: The following essay draws inspiration from Rob Ager’s excellent two-part series on Youtube regarding Childs’ status at the end of John Carpenter’s The Thing. The two clips can be found here and here. My intention as author of this piece is to argue for the film’s place in overarching cinematic canon, and to … Continue reading

Review: Red State, 2011, dir. Kevin Smith

Review: Red State, 2011, dir. Kevin Smith

Red State may be best summed up as the type of movie made by the type of person who watches lots of movies. I’m willing to argue the point; Kevin Smith clearly has something specific on his mind that in point of fact does not refer back to movies at all, but rather the sobering realities … Continue reading

TV Review: The Walking Dead, 2.3: Save the Last One

TV Review: The Walking Dead, 2.3: Save the Last One

Save the Last One suffers from one major problem: telegraphing. I rather liked the episode overall, and feel that it keeps up the narrative push and character development which made Bloodletting so good, but 2.3 gives away a pretty shattering end-of-episode reveal in its opening scrawl. I don’t know that that particular misstep ruins the episode, but Phil Abraham’s … Continue reading