With the Miami Jewish Film Festival opening January 15, buzz just keeps growing. Some screenings have already sold out, a talented group of filmmakers is getting ready to visit, and the lineup of films is as diverse as ever before. Even though it’s been around for 18 years, it’s astounding…
“If everything were great, nothing would be great.” That line, from Scott Coffey’s smart and sweetly entertaining Adult World, is one of my favorite bits of movie dialogue from 2014, not least because it’s applicable to every movie genre — actually, every genre of everything. But in the movie world…
Because January is the dumping ground for mediocre Hollywood movies, Coral Gables Art Cinema is kicking off the year with a series of classic films that will remind cinephiles what great movies are. Few directors have had the lasting influence of Alfred Hitchcock, known for his masterful use of the…
Female filmmakers don’t often get the spotlight they deserve, especially because there are so few of them in the industry. Though I can’t say I’ve seen every film directed (or codirected) by a woman this year (notably Liv Ullmann’s Miss Julie), I’ve seen a good 50 or so. It doesn’t…
By Calum Marsh As critics busy themselves drawing up lists and handing out awards, it seems time to look ahead. Here are the ten films to get excited about during the year to come. 1. Jauja (Dir. Lisandro Alonso) Revered Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso returns after 2008’s exquisite Liverpool with…
There’s something curiously airless about director Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, the story of real-life Olympian and WWII P.O.W. Louis Zamperini. Early on, Louis (Jack O’Connell) and his fellow American soldiers are zipping through the golden skies, dogfighting with Japanese planes, and, though the B-24’s doors are open and the wind is…
Before worrying ourselves over its qualities as an adaptation or its findings as an experiment in just how much tumpety-tump parump-pa-bump the human mind can endure, let’s take a moment to marvel that Rob Marshall’s Into the Woods even exists — as a PG from Disney, no less! No matter…
In Rupert Wyatt’s highball-cool reworking of Karel Reisz’s 1974 The Gambler, Mark Wahlberg does not play a cop, does not shoot bad guys with a gun, and does not spend considerable time shirtless (though we do see him sulking in a bathtub, and there’s a fleeting wet T-shirt moment, too)…
The waifs Walter Keane made famous were known for their huge peepers. But look down at their mouths: Every one kept its lips pressed tight, as though to prevent a secret from escaping. That’s where you see the real artist: Walter’s shy wife Margaret (Amy Adams), who bitterly allowed her…
Don’t ask Billy Magnussen to compare the theatrical production of Into the Woods with the screen adaptation by director Rob Marshall. While in Miami promoting the film — in which he portrays Rapunzel’s prince — Magnussen uses his hands to animate a point and passionately throws them down, palms first…
Photo by Mark PokornyTalk some sense into ’em, Bilbo.Village Voice film editor Alan Scherstuhl and LA Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson discuss the third-and-final Hobbit movie: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, in this special bonus episode of the Voice Film Club podcast. As always, send barbs, jabs,…
“If everything were great, nothing would be great.” That line, from Scott Coffey’s smart and sweetly entertaining Adult World, is one of my favorite bits of movie dialogue this year, not least because it’s applicable to every movie genre — actually, every genre of everything. But in the movie world…
Update: Miami Herald film critic, Rene Rodriguez, reports on Twitter that the Swap Shop in Broward County will show The Interview. Despite threats, cyber hacking, and an initial cancellation, Sony has reversed course and decided to release The Interview on Christmas Day. The movie will be shown at fewer than…
Call it Stone Age materialism, but I still think movies are worth owning in physical forms you can hold, shelve, and collect, and therefore worth giving as gifts. Fuck the Cloud — who knows when Hulu will get sold to Google or when Netflix decides to narrow down its catalog…
Village Voice film critic Stephanie Zacharek and LA Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson run down their ten favorite/best/top/whatever movies of 2014, along with Voice film editor Alan Scherstuhl. Send barbs, jabs, claims or jokes to filmpod@villagevoice.com and follow us on the Twitter at @voicefilmclub. [Subscribe to the Voice Film Club…
The most distinctive feature of the filmmaking team of Lucas Leyva and Jillian Mayer is the bags under their eyes. It’s one day before the first night of Borscht9, a film and visual arts festival Leyva co-founded with kindred spirits at New World School of the Arts back in 2004…
We begin this week’s Voice Film Club podcast with a strange story about Giles Corey, who famously said, “More weight!” as stones were laid upon him during his witch trial. The end of the year is sort of like that for film critics, who are pressed upon with all the…
Jason Fitzroy Jeffers is no stranger to South Florida. Both musician and journalist, he’s made an impact on this and many local publications. With a recent focus shift turning to filmmaking, Jeffers’ first official production, Papa Machete has been picking up momentum and earning accolades from film circles. “You and…
Sony assumed North Korea would hate the movie. The question was: What would it do? Pyongyang had just tested its atom bomb and threatened “preemptive nuclear attack.” And the Supreme Leader with his finger on the trigger was barely over 30, with less than two years of experience. But Kim…
Editor’s note: Sony has officially canceled the theatrical release of The Interview following terrorist threats against theaters, and the announcement that several major theater chains had opted not to exhibit the film. The following review was written before Sony pulled The Interview — and stands as a reminder that world-shaking…
By Ian S. Port The funniest and most incisive show on television is ending this week — so let’s look back at how it began. On October 17, 2005, a power-suited Stephen Colbert furrowed his eyebrows and showed off highlights of his new set. Red letters above him shouted, “The…
TV continued to unmoor from its origins and transform into something else this year. No longer tethered to a specific appliance, a particular kind of storytelling, or even commercial concerns, “television” now feels like an increasingly obsolete word. But that’s a discussion for another time, for we’ve come to celebrate…
