Posted in January 2016

Interview: Jim Whitaker, The Finest Hours

Interview: Jim Whitaker, The Finest Hours

“Talking to actors and filmmakers on a set visit is tons of fun, but here’s the truth: you only get so much time with them, because while you’re sitting pretty in a tent taking notes and making small talk with your fellow journalists, they’re making a movie (which, in the case of Craig Gillespie’s The Finest … Continue reading

Review: Mustang, 2015, dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Review: Mustang, 2015, dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

“Imagine the unimaginable: One moment you’re out enjoying a beautiful, sunny day with your friends and your sisters, and the next, your grandmother is slapping you silly for having inappropriate contact with boys. Everything else snowballs from there: You’re whisked off to the doctor for a virginity test, your personal possessions are shut up in … Continue reading

Review: The Reventant, 2015, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu

Review: The Reventant, 2015, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu

“For aficionados of brutal genre films, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant has enough to keep you satisfied. Find scenes of bravura violence photographed by an eminent cinematographer (the great Emmanuel Lubezki). Find the vague impression of deep, abiding meaning. Find bear-mauling, equine disembowelment. Find rape, castration, graphic suffering. Find additional suffering. Find more suffering. And … Continue reading

This Space Reserved, 2016

This Space Reserved, 2016

Keep your eyes here, folks. Exciting things are going to happen here this year. I hope. If you know me, talk to me, and read my stuff enough, you know that this writing thing isn’t simply a hobby for me these days; it’s more like a hobby that’s just a few miles away from being something … Continue reading

Interview: Kyle Gallner, The Finest Hours

Interview: Kyle Gallner, The Finest Hours

“Playing a real person in a movie sounds like it should make an actor’s job easy. That kind of role has a blueprint of its own to draw on, after all; it’s just a simple matter of getting to know who your character is and learning how to emulate them. Right? Not so according to … Continue reading

Interview: Ben Foster, The Finest Hours

Interview: Ben Foster, The Finest Hours

“For an actor spending their days getting tossed around a gimbal while waves of frigid water smack them in the face, a few minutes’ reprieve in a nice, warm press tent sounds like heaven. But when a waterlogged and exhausted Ben Foster (Warcraft) met with Screen Rant and other journalists on the set of Craig Gillespie’s upcoming … Continue reading