There’s no doubt in my mind that 12 Years a Slave will go down in history as a landmark film. Never before, and quite possibly never again, has the issue of African American slavery and the still present pain and anguish been this viscerally and brilliantly realized. Its effect is provocative, much like gazing into an unattended open wound that never quite heals itself, but rather reaches a point of stasis beyond which things couldn’t possibly get any worse no matter how awful a situation may be.
12 Years a Slave Special Presentation Director: Steve McQueen A mere capsule review at festival time could never do justice to McQueen’s powerful masterwork that’s not so much an excellent piece of filmmaking, but a landmark cinematic achievement. While no one left alive today could possibly ever be able to relay the atrocities of America’s […]
That Shelf catches up with character actor James Badge Dale, who can be caught in The Lone Ranger , World War Z , and Iron Man 3 , about his latest Gore Verbinski directed, Johnny Depp starring effort, the feel and scale of dressing up for a period western, Lone Ranger 's incredible stunt work, never getting recognized in public thanks to constantly changing facial hair, what it’s like to work with so little down time, his dorky love for a certain game involving multi-sided dies, and if there are any childhood fantasies he has left to fulfil.
Killing Them Softly is a stunning looking and sounding picture with some great performances and directorial panache to spare, but it becomes a bit of slog once the film's bursts of ultraviolence run aground of the constant, unsubtle economic badgering.
We talk to director Andrew Dominik about his latest Brad Pitt starring crime drama Killing Them Softly about the economic of crime, making a personal statement following his previously divisive film, sound design as music, and working with Pitt and Ray Liotta.
Two of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival's biggest (or at least its most star-studded) gala presentations take place today: the Brad Pitt n' baseball crowd-pleaser Moneyball and the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March, starring Ryan Gosling. Our has seen both films and lets us know whether or not these celebrity-filled galas are worth the rather hefty price of admission.
