Thompson on Hollywood

LAFF Review: Lake Bell's 'In a World' a Hilarious Feminist Comedy About the Power of Voice

Reviews

What’s in a voice? Power, for one thing. The power to tell people things -- anything from an update on a global crisis to the general gist of a young adult movie franchise. This idea is at the center of Lake Bell’s hilarious, sincere and boldly feminist comedy “In a World,” which she wrote, directed and stars in.

By Beth Hanna
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June 17, 2013 8:12 PM
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Review: Tragi-Comedy 'Act of Killing' Confronts the Killer Inside (TRAILER)

Festivals

With his documentary "The Act of Killing," Joshua Oppenheimer has reset the bar for tragi-comedy. As in, don’t even bother trying, Hollywood. Ever again. In fact, why don’t we just dispense with next year’s Oscar race right now and give both the best documentary and the best feature award to this film? It even has a musical within it, so it could take that category at the Globes, too.

By Tom Christie
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June 17, 2013 2:43 PM
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LAFF Review: Documentary 'Casting By' Heralds the Unsung Yet Crucial Art of the Casting Director

Reviews

“More than ninety percent of directing a picture is the right casting,” says Martin Scorsese at the outset of Tom Donahue’s engrossing documentary “Casting By.” And he’s not alone in his feelings -- Woody Allen, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and a legion of others put in face time in the film to trumpet the importance of the unsung, highly intuitive art of casting. The result is a cinephile’s treat.

By Beth Hanna
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June 15, 2013 10:00 PM
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Now and Then: Five Reasons 'Mumblecore' and 'Millennial' Don't Mean the Same Thing

Reviews

Reading wave after wave of writing about the Millennial generation and the so-called "mumblecore" movement, you would be forgiven for thinking the commentators had somehow mistaken movies for real life.

By Matt Brennan
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June 13, 2013 1:44 PM
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Weekend Preview: 'Man of Steel' Mixed, 'Twenty Feet From Stardom' Shines, Middling 'Bling Ring' and More

Reviews

The review embargo for Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" came crashing down a few nights ago, and unleashed reactions both super and withering. The film, which stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon, is sitting with a 60% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

By Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
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June 13, 2013 1:21 PM
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Review and Roundup: 'Man of Steel' Debate is Raging

Reviews

Bryan Singer is smiling. The lag time on getting the Superman reboot up and running, after Warner Bros. decided that Singer took the wrong course with his 2006 Richard Donner-inflected "Superman Returns," has not been kind to "Man of Steel." A return to form for the DC side of the comics universe this is not. "Man of Steel" errs so far on the side of "Whiz!""Bang!" ""Pow!" that it makes me long for Roland Emmerich or Michael Bay, who would have done a far better job with the action pyrotechnics. Scene after scene devolves to soul-crushingly dull man on man combat.

By Anne Thompson
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June 11, 2013 12:52 PM
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'World War Z' Zombies Reflect Pool of National Anxieties

Reviews

Vampires have always represented rather specific sources of fear -- sex, blood (especially post-AIDS) and, of course, the loss of one’s immortal soul. Zombies, on the other hand, are a blank canvas -- whatever you’re afraid of, be it immigration, disease, terrorists or the Tea Party, zombies are ready to serve as metaphors.

By John Anderson
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June 11, 2013 11:54 AM
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Review: Stylish 'Berberian Sound Studio' a Bit of a Slog

Reviews

Style is a strange creature. Without it, a film fails, but with too much of it, that same film can fall into tedium. Which brings me to my problem with Peter Strickland’s “Berberian Sound Studio,” a moody, elegantly shot tone poem of one man’s crisis at an Italian horror studio. After two viewings, the film has left me bored.

By Beth Hanna
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June 10, 2013 11:33 PM
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DVD Review: 'Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick' on the Life of William Wellman a Welcome Bio-Doc (CLIPS)

Reviews

Kino Lorber’s upcoming DVD release of “Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick” about the life of director William Wellman, is welcome for a couple of reasons. One: In the Great Filmography of American cinema, Wellman, much like Howard Hawks, is a bit like Zelig. He’s everywhere. He made perhaps THE archetypal gangster picture, “Public Enemy” (1931), which not only introduced James Cagney to the screen but planted the concept of the anti-hero in a war- and Depression-weary American psyche.

By John Anderson
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June 10, 2013 2:00 PM
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Don't Miss Feminist Music Doc '20 Feet from Stardom'

Reviews

The irresistible, affecting, crowd-pleasing "20 Feet from Stardom," about largely anonymous and prodigiously talented backup singers, premiered at Sundance in January, where it was nominated for both the Grand Jury Prize in documentary and the editing award, and was acquired by Weinstein Co. boutique label RADiUS out of the fest. The film hits theaters June 14. (Clips below.)