Posted in December 2011

2011: Retrospective, Honors, & ACVF’s Top 15 (Pt.2)

2011: Retrospective, Honors, & ACVF’s Top 15 (Pt.2)

We’re almost there– it’s down to the final ten. Starting with: 10) 13 Assassins: “While the plot that subsequently comes together falls within the bailiwick typical to most men-on-a-mission films as Shinzaemon collects his chosen warriors– a motley crew of samurai ranging in age and experience, which eventually also comes to include a hunter (Yusuke … Continue reading

Review: The Ward, 2011, dir. John Carpenter

Review: The Ward, 2011, dir. John Carpenter

More than fear, the great takeaway of The Ward is disbelief. How could the man responsible for 1982’s masterwork The Thing have it in him to churn out something so horrid as this? It’s hard to see anything of the John Carpenter of twenty-nine years ago in his latest offering, the first cinematic effort he’s made in a … Continue reading

Review: Bellflower, 2011, dir. Evan Glodell

Review: Bellflower, 2011, dir. Evan Glodell

Flamethrowers, precarious romance, badass muscle cars, and directionless, angry young men make for a potentially cataclysmic cocktail. So goes the narrative of Evan Glodell’s Bellflower, a tale of love and apocalypse and slackerdom and possibly the most aesthetically unique film of the year. Glodell, who not only directed the film but also wrote the script … Continue reading

Review: We Bought a Zoo, 2011, dir. Cameron Crowe

Review: We Bought a Zoo, 2011, dir. Cameron Crowe

(Cross-posted over at GoSeeTalk.) In an early scene in Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo, Scarlet Johansson’s beleaguered zookeeper whirls around on Matt Damon’s optimistic single father turned zoo owner and demonstrates the film’s greatest hindrance in one ham-handed chunk of dialogue. Neither Crowe nor the film has any faith in its audience to pick up … Continue reading

Review: Bridesmaids, 2011, dir. Paul Feig

Review: Bridesmaids, 2011, dir. Paul Feig

(Alternate title: In which A Constant Visual Feast becomes a social pariah within the film blogosphere.) The primary emotion that characterizes my reaction to Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids, the sleeper hit comedy of the year, is disappointment. Crushing, heavy, appalling disappointment. Coupled with that, denial; I don’t want to acknowledge my disappointment. I don’t want to … Continue reading

Review: Ironclad, 2011, dir. Jonathan English

Review: Ironclad, 2011, dir. Jonathan English

About the only thing Jonathan English’s Ironclad has going for it blood; he can rest easy knowing that his film absolutely lives up to its tagline, providing copious amounts of human viscera for audience entertainment at the cost of telling a good story. Ironclad is simply bad. The only comfort I can accord the film is … Continue reading

Review: Hanna, 2011, dir. Joe Wright

Review: Hanna, 2011, dir. Joe Wright

Hanna makes a sound argument that action movies need not be artless, though maybe when the person at the helm is Joe Wright the final outcome can only inevitably attain a level of artfulness worth observing. Wright is responsible for 2007’s Atonement, a strikingly beautiful film that remains mostly empty despite its impressive craftsmanship; where … Continue reading