“It’s a fucking meatgrinder,” says one soon-to-be meat patty towards the end of Dredd. He is talking about Mega-City One, the dystopian cesspool of violence and despair in which the story is set, but he might as well have been referring to the film itself. At its best, the action[Read More…]
Search Results for author "Chris Liu"
Beast of burden
If a script can be personified, Bullhead needs but one word: cruel. Not because it mistreats its audience—on the contrary, the film is as beautiful as it is miserable; dazzling as it is horrific. The sheer amount of sadness that writer-director Michael R. Roskam packs into two hours is so[Read More…]
Bodybuilders have feelings too
Teddy Bear is a study in contrasts. The dissonance between a tattooed, muscle-bound hulk of a man and his utter domination by those thin and frail is a wonder to behold. This is the state in which Dennis, the titular character of Teddy Bear, is introduced: so nervous on his[Read More…]
Title 66 Productions puts Satan on trial
Julia Milz / Title 66 Productions For many, good and evil are so straightforward. Truth is good, lies are bad; helping is good, hurting is bad. Easy. The History of the Devil takes the notion of black-and-white ethics and grinds it into the dirt. Its tale of sin and sympathy,[Read More…]
Ghost Rider sequel crashes and burns in stunning 3D
filmbuffonline.com There are some films which one enters with such low expectations that, by the grace of Providence, the movie manages to just barely surpass them. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is one such case. Like a resuscitated drowning victim, the few elements of the film that worked coughed and[Read More…]
Phèdre: Phèdre
Though I was alone when I first watched the video for Phèdre’s “In Decay,” I still threw some nervous glances around. The scene was nothing less than Dionysian paradise: golden elixir pouring down naked bodies, followed shortly by sex-plumped lips, all within a panoply of thick verdant vegetation and[Read More…]
Academy Awards 2012
Best Actor Who will win: Jean Dujardin (The Artist) Before the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, this category looked like a fight between Dujardin and George Clooney (The Descendants). Once the SAG went to the effervescent Frenchmen, the race appeared to be closing in on an early end. Neither[Read More…]
Heigl flick proves it’s all for the money
thelastreel.blogspot.com There are few pleasures in life that come close to seeing a good film. At its best, cinema can elicit profound sentiments, change one’s view of the world, or simply get one through a crappy day. This makes it all the more disheartening when one has the misfortune of[Read More…]
The demon barber gets a haircut
Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune There are stories that are fun, pleasing, and uplifting to the soul and spirit. Then there are others that are dark, brutal, and challenging to watch unfold. And then there’s Sweeney Todd. One of Stephen Sondheim’s best known works, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of[Read More…]
Laughter is the best medicine
Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune My mother, like many, used to stress the importance of good manners. But what happens when yours has none to spare? Well, something like Hay Fever, apparently. Set in the bohemian period of the roaring twenties, the play follows the eccentricities of the Bliss family[Read More…]
