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Late Bloomer
Because of the July 4th holiday, I'm a bit late in delivering a link to my latest Sandbox column. It's about thatgamecompany's Flower, a downloadable PS3 title that's taken a central position in the games-as-art debate. The Sandbox: Flower's Video Game Poetry (IFC News)
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Roll Out
Depending on one's vantage point, this link dump is either late or early. Either way, enjoy my in-depth reviews of last weekend's giant blockbuster and the coming two weekend's biggest releases. Coming Soon:Brüno (Slant magazine)Public Enemies (Slant magazine) Out Now:Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Slant magazine)The Stoning of Soraya M. (Slant magazine) And over at…
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The Hurt Locker (2008): A-
Kathryn Bigelow makes rock ‘n roll action films – heart-racing, pulse-pounding genre flicks that, when necessary, employ outsized melodrama to enhance balls-to-the-wall mayhem. The Hurt Locker is no different, save for the fact that it does so within the context of the Iraq War, a conflict that’s largely been treated by Hollywood with ponderous moralizing.…
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Who Ya Gonna Call?
My latest Sandbox column examines games that function as movie sequels, timed to this past week's anticipated release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. The Sandbox: When Games Become Movie Sequels (IFC News) And as for reviews, well, there's not much to praise about these three new releases. In Theaters:Year One (Slant magazine)Whatever Works (Cinematical)The Proposal…
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Dead Snow (2009): B-
Tommy Wirkola does the time warp with Dead Snow, self-consciously shouting out to his favorite ‘80s horror films – Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, April Fool’s Day – while unevenly replicating Sam Raimi’s whirligig blend of terror and comedy. With a set-up so archetypal it has to be overtly noted as such, a group of…
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The Late Show
I planned to get this post up yesterday but, um, yeah, that didn't happen. Nonetheless, here it is now, replete with new reviews (including my rave for Tetro) as well as my IFC interview with Moon director Duncan Jones. Duncan Jones' (Inter)stellar Debut (IFC News) In Theaters:Tetro (Cinematical)The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Slant…
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Blood: The Last Vampire (2000): C
Blood: The Last Vampire combines hand-drawn characters and computer-generated environments to create an aesthetic that imparts a chilling sense of otherworldly unease. Were the story even half as compelling as the imagery, Hiroyuki Kitakubo might have crafted an animé classic. As is, however, his supernatural story skimps so heavily on narrative details that it can…
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I Love You, Man (2009): C+
Taking the bromance subgenre to its logical end point, I Love You, Man follows engaged, friendless Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) as he embarks on a series of platonic dates with guys to find a best man, and eventually falls into a budding hetero relationship with single Rush fanatic Sydney Fife (Jason Segel). John Hamburg’s film…
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Furious, Hungover and Lost
For this week's Sandbox column, I look into why games based on movies – titles that always arrive in large quantities during the summer – generally suck. The Sandbox: License to Infuriate (IFC News) As for the week's reviews, two are mixed-positive and two are negative, though one of the latter still has its merits.…
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Sunday Night Updating
This weekend's review update – featuring my last write-up's for The Screengrab, which officially signs off today – is a bit late. But it makes up for its tardiness with some – gasp! – honest-to-goodness positivity. Out Now:Up (The Screengrab)Drag Me to Hell (The Screengrab)Pontypool (Slant magazine)What Goes Up (Slant magazine)
