Laughter, Tears—and Bottles of Vodka Leviathan (2014) 4/4 Unflinchingly tense, staggeringly well-made, thought-provoking, and brimming with emotion, Leviathan is a Chekhov-style family tragedy; a subtle, extremely barbed satire exposing criminality in contemporary Russia; a film possessed of both classic sweep and sharp modern relevance. Filled with a desolate beauty, it’s a stupendous piece of...
Spying, Sports, Showbiz – The “Dark Side” of Modern Society Citizenfour (2014) 3/4 Urgent, fascinating, and tastefully designed, Citizenfour is a primal political fable for the digital age; prosaic in its presentation, profound in its details, and perturbing in its implications. Alarming and essential, it’s a tapestry of escalating suspense; a masterful fusion of journalism and art; a rare...
An Avalanche of Actors Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) 3/4 Tasty, ironic, incisive, and savagely audacious, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a weird brew of backstage black comedy and theatrical satire, a volcano of creative ideas in full eruption, and a dark comedy of desperation buoyed by unbridled artistic optimism. It will make you laugh out loud and...
American Hustle (2013) 3/4 Deviously antic, deliriously energetic, and unrepentantly jumbled, American Hustle is a stereotype-drenched piece of cockeyed comedy and a pratfall-ridden work of dazzling showmanship. It’s juicy, relentless, dizzying, diverting, and works from the feet up, leaving you revved and tickled. Writer-director David O. Russell has mashed up a larcenous cast from his last two...
Blue Jasmine (2013) 3/4 Delightful, tonally sound, and uncomfortably hilarious, Blue Jasmine finds Woody Allen back in fine form after a schizophrenically inconsistent string of films that ran the gamut between pleasantly diverting (see: Midnight in Paris) and maddeningly sketchy (see: To Rome with Love). Much of the film’s success has to do with Cate Blanchett’s marvelous performance as the...