Written by Samy Burch (from a story by Alex Mechanik), the screenplay for Todd Haynes's latest work, "May December," is filled with wit and irony. Haynes's film maintains that sharp edge throughout, but stands, also, as a striking examination of the complexity of human sexuality and attraction that reveals a shattering emotional core in its characters. The film is not-so-loosely based on the ... more >
ARCHIVES

FILM REVIEW: The Todd Haynes-directed “MAY DECEMBER” is a multilayered film that uses deception to mine deeper truths

Jackie
Probably the most famous first lady in the history of the United States, people remember Jacqueline Kennedy for riding next to her dying husband in the most perfect pink dress anyone had ever seen. This image permanently stuck in our head lights Pablo Larrain’s “Jackie” is fueled by this incoherent image pink and bloody – the glamour and the grief. Jackie isn’t the story of a murder. It’s the ... more >

VIDEO MASHUP: Watching movies in hotels
Hotels provide the perfect backdrop for filmmaking: they're anonymous and decorative at the same time, providing plenty of opportunities for characters to try out new ambitions and luxuriate in temporary poshness. Infidel couples can indulge themselves in their queen-sized sandbox, writers can have a moment's peace to grope around for a resolution of their memoir' passionless third act, and ... more >

Ewan McGregor SAVES THE DAY
Following a debacle of various other actors and one director who didn't want to be involved, Bradley Cooper also left the Natalie Portman-produced project "Jane Get Your Gun." For a while it seemed like no one wanted to make this movie. But now Ewan McGregor has parachuted in to save the day, taking Bradley Cooper’s proposed role of Natalie Portman’s criminal gang-leader husband. While McGregor ... more >

Black swan
Darren Aronofsky has made another divisive film; in fact I feel a little divided on it myself. It’s expertly-made and you never know where it will go but you want to scrub the unpleasantness from you brain as soon as you leave the theater. Natalie Portman plays Nina, an dedicated ballerina with a controlling stage-mother (Barbara Hershey), deformed, swollen toes, and fingernails hanging by a ... more >