He’s Way More Famous Than You
He’s Way More Famous Than You is a self-parodying examination of celebrity and stardom, tracking the lengths a fading indie starlet takes to stake her claim in show business. It blends autobiography, fiction and farce with a number of actors playing themselves and other characters simultaneously.... read more
Game of Thrones Review - "Second Sons" (Episode 3.8)
Call me crazy, but I'm noticing a theme emerging in GoT regarding the desecration of a man's...manhood. read more
Like Father, Like Son (2013 Cannes review)
Like Father, Like Son, the latest bittersweet drama from Japanese writer-director Kore-eda Hirokazu, may be utterly conventional in some ways, but its surging emotional power eventually proves too overwhelming to deny. We probably don’t need another film about a workaholic father who learns to stop and smell the roses, but when it’s handled as effortlessly as Kore-eda does here, you remember that storytelling conventions exist for a reason: In the right hands, they can still work wonderfully.... read more
Young & Beautiful (2013 Cannes review)
When we first meet Isabelle (Marine Vacth), she doesn’t seem much different than most 16-year-olds. Yes, she’s strikingly beautiful in a bikini, but the adolescent uncertainty and hormonal urges are quite recognizable and universal. Once this French girl loses her virginity to an older German guy, however, her behavior changes in ways that neither we nor anyone close to her could have imagined.... read more
The Past (2013 Cannes review)
One of the constant challenges for screenwriters is trying to condense the complexity of human beings into an accessible feature-length presentation. In real life, it can take months—maybe years, maybe never—to fully understand another person. (And that’s if we’re lucky enough to even figure out ourselves.) Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi is restrained by the same obstacles that other filmmakers are, but somehow he seems capable of developing incredibly complex and nuanced characters. They’re layers upon layers, contradictory and mysterious, still revealing things about themselves even once we think we have a bead on them.... read more
The Bling Ring (2013 Cannes review)
When making a film based on actual crimes, there’s a natural inclination to want to explain precisely what drove the perpetrators to commit their deeds. But in the case of The Bling Ring, a movie inspired by a few high school kids’ string of robberies at celebrities’ homes in the late 2000s, writer-director Sofia Coppola’s rationale for their crimes is quite simple: They did it because they were extraordinarily shallow and materialistic. It’s an intriguing notion, but one wishes Coppola wouldn’t pound on this single point for her movie’s entire running time.... read more
The Congress (2013 Cannes review)
The ambition of The Congress is such that it almost makes a convincing argument for filmmakers following their mad visions wherever they take them, even if they haven’t worked out crucial specifics like story and character. Moving from the personal and experimental nature of his last film, the documentary Waltz With Bashir, director Ari Folman has again gone bold. Even when The Congress falters, which is far, far too often, the conviction of his approach keeps convincing you that he’ll pull things together shortly. Too bad that never quite happens.... read more
Heli (2013 Cannes review)
The world of Heli is a dark and desperate one. Set in an impoverished isolated Mexican community, director Amat Escalante’s spare, unflinching drama treats crime and violence as regrettably commonplace occurrences. From Heli’s perspective, it’s not surprising that lawlessness exists in that country’s remote regions—but it is somewhat miraculous that it has yet to visit the film’s main characters. Until now.... read more
The Office: "Finale" (Episode 9.25)
It can hardly be overstated how good The Office's final season has been, especially in light of what came before it. read more
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Vol. 1 by Katie Cook & Andy Price
Writer: Katie Cook Artist: Andy Price Publisher: IDW Release Date: May 15, 2013... read more
Pieta
From the moment he strides on-screen in Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta, it’s clear that Kang-do (Lee Jung-jin) is a nasty piece of business who’s found both a calling and environ ideally suited to his violent tendencies.... read more
Star Trek Into Darkness
For Trekkies, Abrams’ film is part two of an extended, mostly pleasurable exercise in alternate reality resonance—it’s like film fan fiction, minus the slash-fic component. read more
2010 First Press Cabernet Sauvignon Review
Nearly every winery makes a Cabernet Sauvignon. Grown the world over, Cabs widely vary in body, flavor, and complexity. And the average liquor store’s wall of options can be daunting. read more
The Property by Rutu Modan
Writer & Artist: Rutu Modan Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly Release Date: May 14, 2013... read more
Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine Review (Multi-Platform)
The problem with collapsing a genre and then writing a game around the tropes is that you end up with a game that is solely tropes. read more
Pistol Annies: Annie Up
They worked better as a cartoon than a franchise read more
R.E.M.: Green 25th Anniversary Reissue
Integrity has always been a big part of R.E.M. When the band finally did make the jump to the bigs, some fans, not surprisingly, didn’t take it well. read more
New Girl Review: "Elaine's Big Day" (Episode 2.25)
In just two seasons, New Girl has grown from a show whose quirks overwhelm everything else, to become a show with one of the most well rounded casts on television, while also navigating a difficult romantic path, but handling it beautifully and together created probably the best season of any comedy this year. As some of the best comedies in recent memory have or are coming to a close soon, like 30 Rock, The Office and How I Met Your Mother, New Girl is quickly becoming one of the great comedies worthy to be placed along these others and is on track to even possibly surpass them. read more
The Mindy Project Review: "Take Me With You" (Episode 1.24)
Here’s the thing about a cliffhanger: It has to have some miniscule level of credibility. read more
Mail Pilot App Review
Though most of Mail Pilot’s features feel intuitive and impressive, they’re not perfect. read more
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