When I saw that Criterion was releasing Downhill Racer I was surprised to say the least. I knew little about the film, but I did know it starred Robert Redford and that it was about skiing. Hollywood stars and sports did not seem in line with Criterion’s general release of foreign flicks, lost classics from […]
Category: Uncategorized
Adam Burnstine’s Top Ten of the Decade List
January 1, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, 2000) I’m going to state it plain and simple: this is my favorite film. Not just of the 2000s, but my favorite film. Period. Bela Tarr’s brooding, draining masterpiece tells the tale of a small Hungarian town on the brink of a revolution. Not an explicitly political or spiritual one, but […]
Tyler Remmert’s Top Ten of the Decade List
January 1, 2010 at 5:29 pm
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind There is an element to memory that really sucks. Every pleasant memory about our friends or loved ones is offset by the painful remembrance of a lost lover. Eternal Sunshine is about the pain of memory, but it reminds us of an all too cliché musing—regardless of the […]
Kelly Smart’s Top Ten of the Decade List
January 1, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Into the Wild (2007) – Beautiful film that reminds you just how difficult preserving meat is. Old Boy (2003) – Chan-wook Park at his best, before he condescended to make Thirst. High Fidelity (2000) – Ah, contemporary relationships. The Last King of Scotland (2006) – A totally deserved Oscar for Forest Whitaker. Amazing character study. […]
Rob Ribera’s Top Ten of the Decade List
January 1, 2010 at 5:26 pm
1. There Will Be Blood 2. A Serious Man 3. Into Great Silence 4. Children of Men 5. Man on Wire 6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Extended) The best of the films, hands down. 7. The New World 8. Adaptation 9. A History of Violence 10. Herzog’s Naught Docs: The […]
Nicholas Forster’s Top Ten of the Decade
January 1, 2010 at 5:23 pm
10 Grizzly Man 9 Badasssss! 8 The Fall 7 No Country for Old Men 6 Million Dollar Baby 5 Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 4 Synecdoche NY 3 There Will be Blood 2 City of God 1 Children of Men
Dan Seliber’s Top Ten of the Decade
January 1, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Robert Warshow said, “A man goes to the movies. The critic has to be honest enough to admit that he is that man.” As a man who is not really even a critic, I present my ten favorite movies of the decade. These are not the ten “best.” I possess neither the experience, the expertise […]
Ward no. 6
December 31, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I first discovered the work of Karen Shakhnazarov last year during an MFA retrospective on his work. On a whim, I decided to go to a screening of his film Gorod Zero, a great decision for two reasons: First, the Kafkaesque study of Russia’s modernization is now one of my favorite films of the 1980s, […]
Damian Ortega ‘Do it Yourself’
December 31, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Mexican artist Damien Ortega’s first comprehensive exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, leaves the visitor a little giddy, as art objects are both literally and metaphorically suspended within the galleries. Material presence seems to be in a state of hanging, suspension, and unsteadily balance. Objects, visitors, artistic concepts, theories and ideologies seem to […]
The Men Who Stare at Goats
December 31, 2009 at 6:09 pm
In his seminal essay “Bad Movies” J. Hoberman writes that really “bad” movies are not without merit and that “it is possible for a movie to succeed because it failed.” However, sometimes movies come around that are not just bad but something much worse. They are entirely middling. Such is the case with Grant Heslov’s […]