Filmmaking juggernauts team up for 1970s thriller


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J.J. Abrams keeps on coming back to a box he received in his childhood. As a boy, Abrams was given a ‘mystery box’ — unknown items inside a box labeled only with a question mark. Abrams, now nearly 45, has never opened it, but has said the box’s tug on his imagination greatly influences his […]

Follow-up a hollow echo of original film


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With a movie like The Hangover, any follow up would feel forced. The original was so twisted, so hilarious and so extremely out there that putting the four leads through the same situation would raise questions. But director Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the sequel, managed to prevent things from being completely repetitive. The result is […]

Tides sets up possibility of franchise built around Depp


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What is a film franchise to do when what was originally supposed to be a supporting character completely hijacks the series? In the case of Pirates of the Caribbean, the answer was to ditch the intended leads and start another set of films showcasing the breakout character, here, Johnny Depp’s mercurial Captain Jack Sparrow. Pirates […]

Money, passion square off in Allen’s latest


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It’s fairly common to hear someone say, “I wish I could have lived in the 1950s” or “I wonder what it was like to be a flapper in the 1920s.”  What’s not as common is the realization of that curiosity, something Woody Allen delightfully brings to the screen in his newest film, Midnight In Paris. […]

Wedding-themed comedy starring two SNL veterans takes the cake


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It’s been called “The Hangover for girls,” but that falsely supposes two things. Primarily, it insinuates that female audiences are somehow incapable of fully enjoying or appreciating Todd Phillips’ 2009 morning-after comedy about a trio of friends trying to piece together the events of the previous night’s drunken bender of a bachelor party. But secondly, […]

That’s What I Am more than just a coming-of-age tale


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Were kids just as mean 50 years ago as they were today?  The quote “It has often been said that children are cruel” is displayed at the beginning of That’s What I Am, a remarkable, uplifting exploration of a boy’s journey to manhood amongst the discrimination and trials of a 1960s middle-school. Written and directed […]

Bananas! tells story of a global food industry


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We see them in piles at the grocery store, on our kitchen counters, atop our cereal, but for many plantation workers in Nicaragua, daily exposure to bananas has had a much more profound impact on their lives. Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten’s Bananas! artfully relates the true stories of a handful of these plantation workers as […]

HAUTE HIGHLIGHTS


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Event of the Week: The Psychedelic Furs at The Music Box Saturday. 6 p.m. Whether you’re a connoisseur of forgotten rock or you simply waited too long to buy tickets to Explosions in the Sky’s sold-out cemetery gig, the good folks at The Music Box have you covered. English legends The Psychedelic Furs will roll […]