Month: January 2012

REVIEW: Restless [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“One—with a big fat head” I looked forward to this film with anticipation after watching its sweetly touching trailer of quirky kids, death, and the journey taken to find light amidst darkness. Gus Van Sant appeared the perfect match as a visionary able to do so much with sparse material; to allow quiet moments of introspection room to breathe and more resonate sentimentality an authenticity to rise above its inherent triteness. He found a way to make Good Will Hunting‘s overly clichéd script great and Elephant‘s silent storm invigorating, but…

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REVIEW: Dig! [2004]

Jared Mobarak

“We’ve got a full-scale revolution going on” The mid to late 90s introduced both The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre—two buzzed bands touted to take the world by storm. Their pop culture reference-laden monikers united to form a two-headed rock and roll Renaissance beast of pure post-modern musicianship and set them onto the path towards fame and fortune. Well, that was the plan at least. Firm friends and colleagues with the utmost mutual respect, the passing years would see Courtney Taylor (now with a repeated last name hyphenate,…

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REVIEW: Project Nim [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“It’s the humans I wanted to leave; not the project” If James Marsh‘s documentary Project Nim tells us anything it’s that you must lay out the objectives of scientific experiments concerning animals before heading blindly into them. Columbia University’s Herbert Terrace wanted to see if he could teach a chimpanzee how to communicate by integrating one into a family of humans from birth but never took into consideration the intrinsic emotional and psychological bond we make with those we raise. Enlisting former student—and sexual partner—Stephanie LaFarge to be the surrogate…

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