Author Archives: david nerlich

Zero Dark Thirty

How should Hollywood approach real world stories about black ops, geopolitical espionage and covert vested interests, around which whirl clouds of doubt and conspiracy? According to Zero Dark Thirty, you tell something close to the official story and let it

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Zero Dark Thirty

How should Hollywood approach real world stories about black ops, geopolitical espionage and covert vested interests, around which whirl clouds of doubt and conspiracy? According to Zero Dark Thirty, you tell something close to the official story and let it

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Chronicle

This found-footage mashup of X-men and Akira is another meeting of low production values and teen movie cliches, the kind where the low budget is a means to break into the mainstream rather than break out. Its premise of alien-artifact-sourced

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Chronicle

This found-footage mashup of X-men and Akira is another meeting of low production values and teen movie cliches, the kind where the low budget is a means to break into the mainstream rather than break out. Its premise of alien-artifact-sourced

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Les Miserables

With every line sung rather than spoken and much of it internal monologue rather than dialogue, Les Miserables and musicals like it redraw the rules of what is cinematically permissible. Melodrama flourishes while realism diminishes in value almost entirely. In

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Les Miserables

With every line sung rather than spoken and much of it internal monologue rather than dialogue, Les Miserables and musicals like it redraw the rules of what is cinematically permissible. Melodrama flourishes while realism diminishes in value almost entirely. In

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Killing Them Softly

Director Andrew Dominick does a creditable job treading some very familiar territory, as weary hit man Brad Pitt tidies up the aftermath of a poker robbery.  The right people die and the ledger is balanced. Pitt’s reaper manages to intrigue with

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Killing Them Softly

Director Andrew Dominick does a creditable job treading some very familiar territory, as weary hit man Brad Pitt tidies up the aftermath of a poker robbery.  The right people die and the ledger is balanced. Pitt’s reaper manages to intrigue with

/ No comments

Grey Gardens (2009)

Thankfully not the grotesque vanity project one might have feared, this unflinching yet respectful biopic offers some worthwhile context and understanding of the Beales phenomenon, even if Barrymore and Lange’s evocation of the two Edies can never hope to entirely

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Grey Gardens (2009)

Thankfully not the grotesque vanity project one might have feared, this unflinching yet respectful biopic offers some worthwhile context and understanding of the Beales phenomenon, even if Barrymore and Lange’s evocation of the two Edies can never hope to entirely

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Side Effects

Side Effects uses its mystery thriller plot to steer us through a what-if about the potholes and legal pitfalls of the socio-psycho-pharmaceutical complex. This is done in a similar fashion to Soderbergh’s earlier Contagion, which masqueraded as a star strewn

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Side Effects

Side Effects uses its mystery thriller plot to steer us through a what-if about the potholes and legal pitfalls of the socio-psycho-pharmaceutical complex. This is done in a similar fashion to Soderbergh’s earlier Contagion, which masqueraded as a star strewn

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Cloud Atlas

This three hour omnibus interweaves six stories, some of which we may have been told before as The Island or Phantom of the Opera or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s not clear whether the stories are linked by

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Cloud Atlas

This three hour omnibus interweaves six stories, some of which we may have been told before as The Island or Phantom of the Opera or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s not clear whether the stories are linked by

/ 4 Comments

Man Of Steel

This latest reboot posits a moral conflict over Superman’s earthly versus Kryptonian loyalties, yet it manages to extract little from them but a lot of brawling, and does nothing new with the character. The invading Krypto-fascists seem like a broad church.

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Man Of Steel

This latest reboot posits a moral conflict over Superman’s earthly versus Kryptonian loyalties, yet it manages to extract little from them but a lot of brawling, and does nothing new with the character. The invading Krypto-fascists seem like a broad church.

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On The Road

Kerouac’s tale of his friendship with Neil Cassady (nee Dean Moriarty) plays like a journey of the apostles, as a lost tribe of disaffected youths pursue this charismatic narcissist back and forth across America. Rarely does a film let you

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On The Road

Kerouac’s tale of his friendship with Neil Cassady (nee Dean Moriarty) plays like a journey of the apostles, as a lost tribe of disaffected youths pursue this charismatic narcissist back and forth across America. Rarely does a film let you

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The Master

This is a masterfully crafted example of whatever it is. There’s some controversy regarding whether it’s really just a litigation-proofed L. Ron Hubbard:The Early Years, but if it’s not, then what is it? At face value, there isn’t nearly enough

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The Master

This is a masterfully crafted example of whatever it is. There’s some controversy regarding whether it’s really just a litigation-proofed L. Ron Hubbard:The Early Years, but if it’s not, then what is it? At face value, there isn’t nearly enough

/ No comments

Cosmopolis

A one percent It boy accompanied by intermittent aides and associates takes a stretch limo across Manhattan as the wave of financial speculation he’s been riding begins to break. Cosmopolis is a road movie in a traffic jam. Most of

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Cosmopolis

A one percent It boy accompanied by intermittent aides and associates takes a stretch limo across Manhattan as the wave of financial speculation he’s been riding begins to break. Cosmopolis is a road movie in a traffic jam. Most of

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Argo

A useful writer’s lesson in how suspense is created. If you separate the true story from the invented fictional overlays you’ll find in one hand a finely crafted collection of reversals, all is lost moments, narrow escapes and races against

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Argo

A useful writer’s lesson in how suspense is created. If you separate the true story from the invented fictional overlays you’ll find in one hand a finely crafted collection of reversals, all is lost moments, narrow escapes and races against

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Lore

Cate Shortland reprises the themes of her previous feature Somersault with another tale about another girl who came down in the last shower, a hard rain that dumps her unarmed into a world corrupted. In Somersault, Abbie Cornish’s performance as

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Lore

Cate Shortland reprises the themes of her previous feature Somersault with another tale about another girl who came down in the last shower, a hard rain that dumps her unarmed into a world corrupted. In Somersault, Abbie Cornish’s performance as

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Last Tango in Paris (1972)

Fifty Shades of Grey meets The Wrestler – or is it King Kong? A 48 year old Marlon Brando roams Paris like a rogue silverback. Apparently mourning the recent and mysterious suicide of his wife, he’s roughing up everyone and

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Last Tango in Paris (1972)

Fifty Shades of Grey meets The Wrestler – or is it King Kong? A 48 year old Marlon Brando roams Paris like a rogue silverback. Apparently mourning the recent and mysterious suicide of his wife, he’s roughing up everyone and

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Lockout

This could have been a lot better. The trailer makes it look pretty funny, and it is, but something went wrong from script to screen. Most obvious among its oopses are the hamfisted digital effects. Highly ambitious action set pieces

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Lockout

This could have been a lot better. The trailer makes it look pretty funny, and it is, but something went wrong from script to screen. Most obvious among its oopses are the hamfisted digital effects. Highly ambitious action set pieces

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The Hobbit

An unmotivated hero throws in all his chips to join a troupe of homeless dwarves on a quest to reclaim their stolen inheritance. It’s an odd choice of action for the hero as the same dwarves have only just raided

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The Hobbit

An unmotivated hero throws in all his chips to join a troupe of homeless dwarves on a quest to reclaim their stolen inheritance. It’s an odd choice of action for the hero as the same dwarves have only just raided

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Life of Pi

The future of 3D cinema depends upon its exploration as an artform unique to itself – something closer to theatre or sculpture than to traditional cinema. Otherwise it seems to do little but offer novelty and a problematic highlighting of

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Life of Pi

The future of 3D cinema depends upon its exploration as an artform unique to itself – something closer to theatre or sculpture than to traditional cinema. Otherwise it seems to do little but offer novelty and a problematic highlighting of

/ 2 Comments

Holy Motors

This starts out like you’re watching a Tropfest DVD, a sequence of short films. It ends up in much the same place. In this case the signature item that thinly binds the whole together is nothing more than actor Denis

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Holy Motors

This starts out like you’re watching a Tropfest DVD, a sequence of short films. It ends up in much the same place. In this case the signature item that thinly binds the whole together is nothing more than actor Denis

/ One Comment

Beasts of the Southern Wild

A slight, sometimes imperceptible tale nevertheless remarkable and rewarding for its sheer lack of convention. It’s disorienting enough to leave us wondering whether we are watching an apocalyptic sci-fi, a myth retold, or just a minor extrapolation of events surrounding

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Beasts of the Southern Wild

A slight, sometimes imperceptible tale nevertheless remarkable and rewarding for its sheer lack of convention. It’s disorienting enough to leave us wondering whether we are watching an apocalyptic sci-fi, a myth retold, or just a minor extrapolation of events surrounding

/ No comments