Jafar Panahi continues to defy the 20-year ban on film-making imposed on him by the Iranian government with a new feature, co-directed and starring his colleague and frequent collaborator Kambozia Partovi, and it is an intriguing magnification of his last illicit achievement, This Is Not A Film (2011). That title was wittily, bitterly disingenuous, whereas […]
Entertainment
AFI FEST 2013 Movie Review: Greatness Amongst Carnage In ‘Lone Survivor’
The sound of bones crunching against a tree, as a man’s body tumbles down an unforgiving hill; not once, but twice. This is the sound that haunts you after watching Lone Survivor, superseding the gunfire, explosions, helicopter propellers, and painful screams of four men being ambushed in Afghanistan by Taliban forces. It could easily go […]
Asgard’s Mightiest Avenger Finds A New Identity In ‘Thor: The Dark World’
While the first Thor – released in 2011 – was a suitable introduction to the Marvel Comics character Thor, it was also a fairly tepid approach to what is one of the more cosmic members of the Avengers team. Up until that point, moviegoers had been treated to a Marvel world that existed in a […]
Alex Gibney’s ‘The Armstrong Lie’ Is The Story Of A Lifelong Liar Who Still Ends Up As The Hero Of The Story
In the sporting world, there are a handful of elite athletes who were able to rise head and shoulders above their competition. In the NFL, Jerry Rice not only still holds just about every major receiving record worth holding, but holds them all by such a huge margin that many will most likely never be […]
‘Thor: The Dark World’ Has Plenty Of Action, Amidst Confusion
While the mythos makes sense, it is the structure and pacing of Thor: The Dark World, along with creative choices that’s its downside.