Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene
October 21, 2011
Martha Marcy May Marlene is a movie whose subject matter is less its subject and more a feeling. It is a film that makes you think, but is not intellectual. It relies its audience to react to and interpret what is on-screen rather than just sit back and experience it.
Review: The Ides of March
October 7, 2011
The Ides of March is nothing more than a political drama. There is nothing extraordinary about it as a whole. The premise is as old as politics itself. However, the individual pieces – the performances, the cinematography, the dialogue, the characters – all are excellent in-and-of-themselves. This makes the sum of its parts greater than the whole.
Review: Contagion
September 9, 2011
Contagion snuck up on me almost as quickly as the virus in the film snuck up on its victims. It was only a few weeks ago I began seeing ads for the movie, which seemed like a simple disaster movie. However, with Soderbergh at the helm and so many incredible actors, you know that that is not the end of the story. In fact, Contagion is an expansive, sweeping tale whose major focus is humanity itself.
Interview: Mike Cahill discusses intertwing science fiction and drama in Another Earth
July 25, 2011
In Another Earth mankind discovers that another version of Earth is also spinning around the sun. This monumental discovery serves as the backdrop for the moving story of Rhoda (Brit Marling, whose interview is on its way) whose life is fundamentally changed by this celestial body. When I sat down for a roundtable interview with Mike Cahill (co-writer, director, director of photography, and editor of the film) we discussed blending the grand science fiction elements of the film, which ultimately is a personal human drama, as well as the process behind creating the film and being bought at Sundance by Fox Searchlight. Click through for the full, unedited interview Read the rest of this entry »