The Deuce, episode 4: “I See Money” Directed by Alex Hall / Written by George…

The Julliard-educated actor was plucked from obscurity to the heights of fame as the super-face, super-voice, and super-body of Superman, but never seemed to make it as a superstar after that, even before the tragic accident that changed and shortened his life. Reeve, hot after the smash success of the instantly-iconic Superman, turned down a host of hit films, allegedly telling his agent to “make a bonfire” of his rejected scripts. He turned down the lead role in the hit Urban Cowboy (later pi

Edgar Wright’s modern comedy classic Hot Fuzz, which turns one decade old in a short span of months, is a film that is built upon references to other movies. This is not to say that the movie is derivative — it positively pops with the sensation of invention — but it is simply a fact. The climax is an explicit visual quote of Point Break, Chinatown gets paraphrased, and even the Jackie Chan vehicle Super Cop is name-checked. Wright even fits in music that only appeared in the trailer for Lethal

As necessary as it is for the realm of criticism, I don’t like writing negative reviews. It’s too easy to dwell on a given movie’s failures and inadequacies, and negativity will always be less useful than positivity. But I hated Trumbo even more than I hate writing negative reviews. Trumbo, newly crowned with unearned nominations from the Academy Awards, the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and, most ignobly, the Writers Guild of America, is a shoddy wreck of a film, a complete misfire

Sound has been an essential part of filmmaking for nearly ninety years, yet is the art and the craft of sound mixing and sound editing is not especially appreciated by modern cinephiles, including this writer. But the recent release of Bill Pohland’s double-sided Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy caused me to stand to stand up and take notice of the film’s truly exception sonic wizardry, which uplifts the film, enhancing the story and giving a voice to the characters’ souls, which too often are u

There has been so much furor and gnashing of teeth over the way Ava DuVernay’s richly drawn new film Selma depicts President Lyndon Johnson that I am loathe to add anything to the overstated controversy.  Nevertheless, I felt obliged to point out what this controversy has to say about the way we talk about politically-inclined historical films, particularly those dealing with race. In light of this morning’s Academy Award nominations, which saw Selma nominated only for Best Picture and Best Orig