How I Ended This Summer (Popogrebsky, 2011)

A review for InRO: Sergei Popogrebsky’s atmospheric anti-thriller How I Ended This Summer. The first 70 minutes are fascinating, building tension out of epic, elemental long shots focusing on nature and the primitive weaknesses of man. However, the last 5o minutes turn unforgivably inert, pretentious, and meandering. There’s a great film in there somewhere, but the art film conventions bury its thematic weight under a mountain of aesthetic tedium.

The Fighter (O’Russell, 2010)

Ugh. Oscar bait at its most abrasive, simplistic, and self-important. So yeah, I reviewed The Fighter over at In Review Online and needless to say, I’m not a fan.

Enter the Void (Noe, 2010)

The one you’ve all been waiting for, or maybe not. Love it or hate it, Enter the Void is a singular experience and one of the most important films of the year. Oh, and it needs to be seen on the big screen. Check out my review at InRO.

Links Galore

The House Next Door
SDAFF 2010 #1: Intro/Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
SDAFF 2010 #2: Macho Like Me/Bodyguards and Assassins/ Alien vs. Ninja
SDAFF 2010 #3: City of Life and Death/71: Into the Fire
SDAFF 2010 #4: House of Suh/Tibet in Song

Slant Magazine
Seven Samurai (Blu)
Jolene
Red Hill
Smash His Camera (DVD)
Searchers 2.0 (DVD)

InRO
The American

- Thoughts to come on Uncle Boonmee, Winter’s Bone, and Certified Copy before I embark on my journey up to the AFI Film Festival. Thanks for being patient.

The Social Network (Fincher, 2010)

The Social Network is a thrilling cinematic labyrinth illuminating the many layers of the modern male ego, and it’s certainly in the top-tier of American efforts from 2010. Seeing it twice theatrically just made me more eager to sit down with the Blu-ray and dissect each scene more carefully. Also posted at InRO (it was Glenn Heath Jr. day apparently).

Let Me In (Reeves, 2010)

Matt Reeves’ Let Me In had me going for the first act, which contains some excellent and chilling riffs on the original Let the Right One In. Not surprisingly, it quickly becomes closer to a tween romance (Twilight!) than anything resembling horror. Also posted at InRO.

The Town (Affleck, 2010)

The Town is the disappointment of the year for me. I’m a deep admirer of Affleck’s debut film Gone Baby Gone, and this convoluted slice of regional mediocrity makes me wonder how Affleck pulled it off the first time out. Review posted at InRO.

Last Train Home (Fan, 2010)

Last Train Home intimately follows a family of Chinese migrants making the annual new year’s trek from city to country, and it ultimately becomes a fascinating dissection of family trauma and compromise. My review is one of four new pieces recently posted at In Review Online.