Indiewire Browse the indiewire network

Press Play

 This is a web site built around original video essays and critical, personal writing about movies, TV, music, comics and whatever else interests its contributors. It is published by Matt Zoller Seitz, TV critic for New York Magazine and overseen by editor-in-chief Kevin B. Lee.

Video Essays

Categories

Monthly Archives

Press Play

CANNES 2012: Carlos Reygadas' POST TENEBRAS LUX

Festivals
Narrative is the devil in Carlos Reygadas’s baffling and intoxicating "Post tenebras lux."
Read More »
  • By Glenn Heath Jr.
  • |
  • May 24, 2012 12:31 PM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Cannes Film Festival, Glenn Heath Jr., Carlos Reygadas, Post Tenebras Lux, Adolfo Jimenez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo, Willebaldo Torres

VIDEO ESSAY: Sight and Sound Film Poll - Jonathan Rosenbaum on SATANTANGO

Video
From a personal standpoint, it is fitting that the second video of this series, following the opening tribute to Roger Ebert, features Jonathan Rosenbaum. It was through Ebert that I discovered Rosenbaum's writing 14 years ago, when his weekly reviews for The Chicago Reader made Ebert's list of "20 Essential Movie Websites." Since then, no writer has done more to expand my knowledge and develop my sensibilities on film.
Read More »
  • By Jonathan Rosenbaum and Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • May 24, 2012 11:31 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
More: Video, video essay, Sight and Sound Film Poll

CANNES 2012: Lee Daniels' THE PAPERBOY

Festivals
The best that can be said of Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" is that it’s sometimes intentionally awful. More often than not, however, it’s just awful.
Read More »
  • By Simon Abrams
  • |
  • May 24, 2012 9:53 AM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
More: Cannes Film Festival, Simon Abrams, Lee Daniels, The Paperboy, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey, Macy Gray, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo, Zac Efron

VIDEO ESSAY - Hijacking Michael Haneke

Video
The most exacting filmmaker of our time, Michael Haneke brings a new film to Cannes and a new question to the table: To truly see a Michael Haneke film, should we be prepared to see through it?
Read More »
  • By Kevin B. Lee
  • |
  • May 23, 2012 5:01 PM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Video, video essay

CANNES 2012: Walter Salles' ON THE ROAD

Festivals
Walter Salles and Jose Rivera love the characters and world of "On the Road" too much to know how to properly represent them.
Read More »
  • By Simon Abrams
  • |
  • May 23, 2012 1:56 PM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
More: Cannes Film Festival, Simon Abrams, On The Road, Walter Salles, Jose Rivera, Jack Kerouac, Sam Riley, Kirsten Dunst, Garrett Hedlund, Elizabeth Moss

CANNES 2012: Leos Carax's HOLY MOTORS

Festivals
Where does one begin with Leos Carax’s insane "Holy Motors"? Maybe its incredible central performance(s) by Denis Lavant, who literally transforms into a different character in nearly every other scene, each one stranger than the next? Or perhaps its stark raving mad narrative that bends so far into the absurd, it threatens to break apart?
Read More »
  • By Glenn Heath Jr.
  • |
  • May 23, 2012 11:38 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Cannes Film Festival, Glenn Heath Jr., Leos Carax, Holy Motors , Denis Lavant, Kylie Minogue, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes

VIDEO ESSAY: MEN IN BLACK: Three Reasons for Criterion Consideration

Video
For this month’s Criterion Consideration, coming up with a suitable equivalent to Barry Sonnenfeld's latest film, "Men in Black III," was a bit of a challenge.
Read More »
  • By Robert Nishimura
  • |
  • May 23, 2012 9:41 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: video essay, Robert Nishimura, Barry Sonnenfeld, Men in Black, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Video

CANNES 2012: Andrew Dominik's KILLING THEM SOFTLY

Festivals
It’s a testament to Australian director Andrew Dominik’s considerable story-telling abilities that a movie as nakedly cynical and aggressively repellent in its philosophy as "Killing Them Softly" is as satisfying as it is.
Read More »
  • By Simon Abrams
  • |
  • May 22, 2012 6:56 PM
  • |
  • 1 Comment
More: Cannes Film Festival, Andrew Dominik, Killing Them Softly, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Simon Abrams

VIDEO ESSAY - The Sight and Sound Film Poll: An International Tribute to Roger Ebert and His Favorite Films

Video
Press Play introduces Sight and Sound Film Poll: Critics' Picks, a series of video essays featuring prominent film critics on films they selected for Sight and Sound magazine's poll of the greatest films of all time. New videos will premiere each week until the poll results are announced later this summer.
Read More »
  • By Various Contributors
  • |
  • May 22, 2012 12:58 PM
  • |
  • 3 Comments
More: Video, video essay

CANNES 2012: Abbas Kiarostami's LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE

Festivals
Denial and delusion ripple the pristine visual surface of "Like Someone in Love," Abbas Kiarostami’s masterful critique of social and emotional formality, set in Japan.
Read More »
  • By Glenn Heath Jr.
  • |
  • May 22, 2012 11:13 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
More: Cannes Film Festival, Glenn Heath Jr., Abbas Kiarostami, Like Someone In Love, Rin Takanashi, Ryo Kase, Tadashi Okuno

Follow Us

Disney Magic Transforms Taxi Driver

Latest Tweets

  • SamsMyth

    "I think we are at a point where it is more important to think about how we watch films than about which films to watch" -@PressPlayIW

    Posted 5 minutes ago
  • alsolikelife

    RT @mant_a_tangi: @alsolikelife @PressPlayIW That's only bit of that movie I'm looking forward to. Not that I love watersports, but sure don't love Daniels.

    Posted 58 minutes ago
  • GandtheW

    RT @nelsoncarvajal: VIDEO ESSAY: Sight and Sound Film Poll - Jonathan Rosenbaum on SATANTANGO via @PressPlayIW http://t.co/2rMs9zGr

    Posted 2 hours ago
  • nelsoncarvajal

    VIDEO ESSAY: Sight and Sound Film Poll - Jonathan Rosenbaum on SATANTANGO via @PressPlayIW http://t.co/2rMs9zGr

    Posted 2 hours ago
Follow us

Blog Roll

Most "Liked"

Around The Network

the network

indiewire

categories