REVIEW: The Loneliest Planet [2012]

“Give me a verb” Films like Julia Loktev‘s The Loneliest Planet are what make me fully aware of the fact I will always be a cinema lover who writes about movies and not a legitimate critic. Like the work of Kelly Reichardt, I just can’t access the importance so many of my peers easily uncover. I get what’s happening—the psychological verisimilitude on display with an engaged couple trekking through Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains—and yet I’m numb to it all. Traumatic experiences hit everyone and it’s not always pretty when each victim…

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DESIGN: 2012 In Music

Tracklisting:Disc 11. “Water Runs” — Reptar 5:14 | from Body Faucet; Vagrant Records2. “Dougou Badia” — Amadou & Mariam (ft. Santigold) 3:53 | from Folila; Nonesuch Records3. “Mind Your Manners” — Chiddy Bang (ft. Icona Pop) 3:16 | from Breakfast; Virgin, I.R.S.4. “Bright Whites” — Kishi Bashi 4:13 | from 151a; Joyful Noise5. “Little Talks” — Of Monsters and Men 4:25 | from My Head is an Animal; Universal6. “We Are Young” — fun. (ft. Janelle Monae) 4:10 | from Some Nights; Fueled by Ramen7. “End of the Line” —…

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REVIEW: The Deep Blue Sea [2011]

“Beware of passion. It always leads to something ugly.” Almost fifty years after its publishing, Terence Rattigan‘s play The Deep Blue Sea has made it back to the big screen in an adaptation by writer/director Terence Davies. In a year with two British stage revivals, it only seems fitting that the original 1955 film starring Vivien Leigh would receive an update as well. Dealing with the contrasting concepts of love and lust, it’s a tale of one woman and her desire for passion inside a world quick to deem it…

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REVIEW: The Guilt Trip [2012]

“This place smells like strawberry gum” I never would have thought the aspect of The Guilt Trip I most dreaded would be its one saving grace. Barbra Streisand has never been—and still isn’t—one of my favorite movie stars and the prospect of her playing an overbearing Jewish mother was not an appealing one. I assumed if anything could save what appeared to be a lame pastiche of cinematic tropes mixing the road trip with the out-of-touch parent/child relationship, Seth Rogen would be it. But while his attempt at veiled anger…

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REVIEW: De rouille et d’os [Rust and Bone] [2012]

“What’s up Robocop?” There’s nothing like a little tragic drama helping troubled souls find purpose in their lives to warm your heart. No, really, there isn’t. With the way the movies tell it, sometimes I get jealous I’ve never gone through a horrible near-death experience or witnessed someone close to me doing so because those things always seem to meander their way into allowing their victims to achieve that ever-elusive moment of clarity. Sure the path probably contains a few more rough patches—with the worst generally yet to come—but sometimes…

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REVIEW: Amour [2012]

“Promise me one thing.” For someone as famously attuned to the intellectual thriller oftentimes leaning towards the hidden recesses of humanity’s darkest proclivities, seeing writer/director Michael Haneke‘s name attached to the universally lauded Amour was always a bit of a puzzle. Depicting the final months in the lives of two eighty-year old former music teachers—Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva)—after the lady of the house suffers a debilitating stroke, the film’s rather heartbreaking portrayal of sacrifice and unwavering adoration is without a doubt an aberration in the auteur’s oeuvre.…

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Posterized Propaganda January 2013: The Top 10 Movie Posters of 2012

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably. Another year is complete and the time has come to revisit the best one-sheets that did all they could to help their films achieve box office glory. Unsurprising to those…

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REVIEW: Holy Motors [2012]

“Too bad. I miss forests.” Is it science fiction, fantasy, drama, comedy, all or none of the above? As spoken by a character from within, beauty exists in the eye of the beholder and so does the importance of Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors. However, rather than positing the question of what happens when there no longer is a beholder, I wonder if the film actually waxes poetic on the truth that we are quickly becoming beholden to everything. Through enhancing technology and a flattening of the world, we have the…

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Top 100 Albums of 2012

Honorable Mention: #100: Heartbreaking Bravery by Moonface with Sinai #99: Oceania by The Smashing Pumpkins #98: Break It Yourself by Andrew Bird #97: Golden Years by Brothertiger #96: Tramp by Sharon Van Etten #95: Out Of Frequency by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour #94: Cynic’s New Year by Horse Feathers #93: Bear Creek by Brandi Carlile #92: Sjung by Laleh #91: Outlands by Deep Sea Arcade #90: Something by Chairlift #89: A Gentle Reminder by The Jealous Sound #88: Lex Hives by The Hives #87: Stars And Satellites by Trampled By…

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REVIEW: Django Unchained [2012]

“Are the bags on or off?” I’m not sure Quentin Tarantino could ever be mistaken for someone subtle, but even he may have gone too far with his latest, Django Unchained. A revenge flick drenched in blood, America’s tarnished history, and a surprising wealth of humor, what starts as a film I would have been hard-pressed to deny as being one of his best quickly buckles under its own weight towards an overblown, farcical finale that completely derails any momentum its climax builds. The auteur is a master of the…

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REVIEW: Les Misérables [2012]

“I dreamed a dream” I tried to tackle Victor Hugo‘s massive literary masterpiece Les Misérables years ago only to find myself stuck two hundred pages in and our book club disbanded after learning my poor progress was actually second best among the lot of us. Suffice it to say, none of the words I caught sunk in to give me any sort of footing before sitting down to Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper‘s musical adaptation. This was a welcome development, though, as going in fresh seemed the best way to let…

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