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Welcome, one and all, to the Festival of Films blog! Here, we strive not just to review films but to discuss how the art of film reflects society and the broader human condition. Comments and spirited discussion are always strongly encouraged. Just remember to keep it respectful, of course. Here's lookin' at you, readers!
Category Archives: Features
After scoring with Haywire and Magic Mike just last year, eclectic and prolific director Steven Soderbergh insists that Side Effects will be his last theatrical film before retirement. That’s too bad because his latest, an icy, craftily constructed pharmaceutical mystery-thriller, is … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Drama, Features, Thriller
Tagged Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Jeremy Kibler, Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh
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It’s rare that a film shows us true, enduring love. We’ve seen plenty of romantic movies in which love endures the obstacles of distance or time, and they almost always end with the couple finally getting together and presumably living … Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, Drama, Features
Tagged Before Midnight, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delphy, Nick DeNitto, Richard Linklater
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If you ever wondered how 1972′s Deliverance would play out with women—minus the inbred banjo players—on a smaller, cost-effective budget, Black Rock would be the result. But that comparison undersells what this film has going for it. With the story conceived … Continue reading
Posted in Drama, Features, Thriller
Tagged Black Rock, Deliverance, Jeremy Kibler, Kate Bosworth, Katie Aselton, Lake Bell, Mark Duplass
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Not all that long ago, Star Trek was not “cool.” It was low-budget fare that made up for its glaring lack of high-gloss action sequences by espousing philosophies on the nature of scientific discovery and the art of war. It … Continue reading
Posted in Action, Features, Sci Fi
Tagged Chris Pine, Daniel Schaub, J.J. Abrams, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Zachary Quinto
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After its kinetic rejuvenation in 2009, the Star Trek franchise – captained by J.J. Abrams – once again takes flight, boldly going where no CGI has gone before. Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is still up to the same … Continue reading
Posted in Action, Features, Sci Fi
Tagged Alice Eve, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams, Nick DeNitto, Peter Weller, Star Trek Into Darkness, Zachary Quinto
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Courtesy of Spielbergian wunderkind J.J. Abrams and crew, 2009′s Star Trek rejuvenated original creator Gene Roddenberry’s franchise out of the cheesy, for-Trekkers-only black hole and into a prequel-cum-reboot that was more accessible to even the uninitiated. Moving at a warp speed … Continue reading
How do you even begin to explain a film as unconventional as Upstream Color that defies categorization, description, and total understanding? Let’s start here: Shane Carruth, an engineer turned self-taught, multi-hyphenate filmmaker, only had a $7,000 budget when he first made … Continue reading
Posted in Drama, Features, Independent Films, Indie Features, Sci Fi
Tagged Amy Seimetz, Andrew Sensenig, Jeremy Kibler, Primer, Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
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F. Scott Fitzgerald probably had no idea his 1925 “Great American Novel” would receive three more film adaptations after 1926′s silent version. If any director could bring Gatsby’s rich, decadent, and grandiose lifestyle to the screen, it would thought to … Continue reading
Once a week or so, I will be looking back at films that have garnered negative reviews in the past and I will try to find some redeemable quality about them. The key to this being that I have to … Continue reading
In The Great Gatsby, the eponymous Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) throws extravagant parties at his Long Island mansion in hopes of attracting his beautiful former love Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). Director Baz Luhrmann takes the same approach in trying to … Continue reading
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