Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian) (2013 Cannes review)
Easier to respect than embrace, Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian) tells its true-life story with understatement and features sturdy performances from Benicio del Toro and Mathieu Amalric. But this somewhat clinical look at the unlikely therapy sessions that took place between a French anthropologist and a traumatized Native American war veteran in 1947 feels hemmed in by its approach. You sense that French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin wants to avoid the feel-good clichés associated with such a movie, but his alternative is tasteful but also a little too muted.... read more
Samsung Galaxy S4
But the elephant in the room question remains: Is the Samsung Galaxy S4 a phone you should buy instead of an HTC One or an iPhone 5? read more
Stories We Tell
With Stories We Tell, actress-turned-director Sarah Polley has proven herself a consummate filmmaker, transforming an incredible personal story into a playful and profound investigation into the nature of storytelling itself. The central mystery of her documentary—that the man she grew up believing to be her dad is not her biological father—is public knowledge and revealed in the film’s trailer. Yet Polley conceals and reveals information—starting with her relationships to her interview subjects—in such a way as to constantly surprise, even shock, her audience. The result is a film that entertains and delights viewers while elevating her investigation to art.... read more
Various Artists: After Dark 2
Rarely do compilation albums add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. read more
JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound: Howl
JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are doing that thing the people always say they want bands to do—that thing where a band transforms their early, almost literal take on retro-minded soul music into a sound that's unique and modern. read more
Dirtyville Rhapsodies by Josh Green
What accounts for the mini-Renaissance of the short story we see nowadays? read more
Daft Punk: Random Access Memories
Sasha Frere-Jones’ review of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories baffled many in the critic’s corner this week as he insisted that this album asks, “Does good music have to be good?” read more
Scout Niblett: It's Up To Emma
Though there was precious little excess to burn, Scout Niblett subjected herself to trial by fire on her previous release, The Calcination Of Scout Niblett. read more
Dirty Beaches: Drifters/Love is the Devil
Two years ago, Alex Hungtai (a.k.a. Dirty Beaches) still had a day job. read more
Soulacoaster: The Diary Of Me by R. Kelly
There’s a scene early in Soulacoaster: The Diary Of Me, R. Kelly’s amusingly named memoir, which seems to anticipate the singer’s future. read more
The National: Trouble Will Find Me
Trouble Will Find Me may be The National’s funniest album to date. Not that it has a whole lot of competition. read more
Dead Man’s Burden
Opening with a serene, lingering shot of the New Mexico desert, Dead Man’s Burden invites us to marvel at this imposing, seemingly uninhabitable landscape. The arresting stillness is then unceremoniously broken as a man on horseback bursts across the screen. A young woman (Clare Bowen) watches him go, tears pooling in her eyes. And the very moment you believe you have the measure of her, she raises a rifle, takes dead aim and fires. Advancing on her wounded quarry—who’s revealed to be her father, Joe—she puts him out of his misery.... read more
Rectify Review: "Jacob's Ladder" (Episode 1.06)
From the show’s theme song, “Bowsprit” by Balmorhea, to the piped-in Jimmie Dale Gilmore at the local convenience store, Rectify uses an impressive list of music appropriately layered into the dramatics of the show. read more
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
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