This past weekend marked the premiere of the movie But Always (Yi Sheng Yi Shi), a 1970s drama that revolves around two former lovers from Beijing who meet by coincidence in New York City and rekindle their lost romance.
Film and TV
From prison to Hollywood
In 1972, New Yorker John Wojtowicz was captured attempting to rob a bank. Despite his arrest, he had no regrets—but why would he, now that he has two films made about him?
“Wait for it” no more: How I Met Your Mother gives its answer in lackluster last gasp
There are any number of ways to begin a review of the emotional How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM)finale, just as I believe there were several different tracks the writers could have chosen to cap off such a series. I was in no state to start writing until roughly 48[Read More…]
Eastern premises serve Wes Anderson well in The Grand Budapest Hotel
The central characters in Wes Anderson’s films have always had a deep and inextricable connection to the places they love: Max Fischer had Rushmore; Royal Tenenbaum had the house on Archer Avenue; Steve Zissou had his ship, the Belafonte. Despite their usually roguish natures, these connections hint at some kind[Read More…]
FOKUS Film Festival gets hearts racing with robust reels
It was only fitting that to arrive on time last Friday to the FOKUS Film Festival, I had to re-enact one of the great last-minute dash scenes in movie history. The moment my class ended at 5:55 p.m., I was zooming through the Milton-Parc area doing my best Ferris Bueller[Read More…]
True Detective is for real, and it’s spectacular
*Spoiler Alert* When I first heard of True Detective, I was unsure of what to expect from the show based on its title alone, which hints at yet another generic crime TV show. However, True Detective not only exceeds all expectations, but also entertainingly reinterprets the buddy-cop genre in an[Read More…]
Keeping up with The Americans
*Spoiler alert!* It is unsurprising that in a time when American politics have reached new levels of dysfunction, Hollywood has capitalized on it by pumping out political dramas left, right, and centre. Hit series such as Scandal and House of Cards focus squarely on the inner workings of Washington politics:[Read More…]
Wrong answers are blowing in The Wind Rises
How much responsibility does a filmmaker working from non-fictional material have to accurately represent his subject? It’s a complicated question, and one which muddles the The Wind Rises, an animated biopic that writer-director Hayao Miyazaki re-released with an English cast of voices that replace those in the original Japanese version.[Read More…]
The Lego Movie reminds us that it’s good to be a kid
“Everything is Awesome,” the song heard at the beginning of The Lego Movie, sets the mood for the film right away: it’s fun, hilarious, and unapologetically zany. Remarkably, writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller—known primarily for their work on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street—sustain this[Read More…]
Oscar Predictions
The A&E team takes on four of the prominent categories at next week’s Academy Awards by offering probable predictions and wild card scenarios for each. Best Actor: Bruce Dern — Nebraska Leonardo Di Caprio — The Wolf of Wall Street Chiwetel Ejiofor — 12 Years a Slave Matthew McConaughey —[Read More…]
