Tagged with michael fassbender

Review: Alien: Covenant, 2017, dir. Ridley Scott

Review: Alien: Covenant, 2017, dir. Ridley Scott

First thing’s first: Here’s the link to my review of Alien: Covenant at Paste Magazine. Second thing’s, uh, second: Spoilers. I have to get some shit off my chest after the baffling defenses mounted in the film’s favor by some of the most respected names in contemporary film criticism, mostly because their defenses hinge on the … Continue reading

Review: Steve Jobs, 2015, dir. Danny Boyle

Review: Steve Jobs, 2015, dir. Danny Boyle

“And now, for your edutainment: 2015’s second movie about Apple visionary and all-around jerk, Steve Jobs, creatively titled Steve Jobs for sake of ease. The film marks Danny Boyle as the second person in 2015 to attempt at parsing out the many faces of the late Jobs, or maybe the third. Boyle has the director’s … Continue reading

IFFBoston: First Dispatch

IFFBoston: First Dispatch

“There may be no more fitting way to kick off a celebration of storytellers than with a portrait of a storyteller, so combining Independent Film Festival Boston with The End of the Tour feels simply felicitous. This is the second time a James Ponsoldt film has commenced festivities at New England’s largest film festival; he … Continue reading

Review: 12 Years a Slave, 2013, dir. Steve McQueen

Review: 12 Years a Slave, 2013, dir. Steve McQueen

In a two hour movie brimming with finely calibrated, impeccably composed images that capture the brutal realities of America’s antebellum slave culture, a single shot of our nation’s looming capitol proves the most provocative. 12 Years a Slave, for all of its remarkable qualities, should be identified most of all as the rare movie that … Continue reading

Review: Haywire, 2012, dir. Steven Soderbergh

Review: Haywire, 2012, dir. Steven Soderbergh

Haywire, in its fashion, possesses many of the best qualities of its protagonist; like Mallory Kane, it’s lean, mean, efficient, and wholly focused on attaining its goals and realizing its purpose. It also teeters, occasionally, on the verge of emotional vulnerability. Neither Kane (MMA fighter Gina Carano) nor director Steven Soderbergh are especially willing to … Continue reading

Review: Fish Tank, 2009, dir. Andrea Arnold

Review: Fish Tank, 2009, dir. Andrea Arnold

While I doubt most of us can claim to come from the same circumstances as Mia, the rough-around-the-edges protagonist of Andrea Arnold’s 2009 coming-of-age film Fish Tank, I’m sure most of us can at least empathize on a spiritual or philosophical level with her eventual need to reach for something better in her life. That … Continue reading