Don your bowling shirt and pony up for White Russians at a screening of the 1998 Coen Brothers’ classic The Big Lebowski. Jeff Bridges stars as L.A. slacker “The Dude,” who seeks recompense from his millionaire name-twin when angry thugs mistake his identity and urinate on his rug. The laid back bowling enthusiast becomes enmeshed […]
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Film review: Love blooms awkwardly in a hostage situation in Labor Day
The story told in Labor Day, about Adele (Kate Winslet), a divorced and depressed mother to young teenager Henry (Gattlin Griffith), and their long holiday weekend with stranger Frank (Josh Brolin), is absurd. See, Frank is an escaped convict who politely but firmly takes Adele and Henry hostage. Then somehow he changes their lives for […]
Rita Dove talks about a new film on her life and work
Poetry might be the least ostentatious of the arts. It’s a private affair conducted between a writer and a blank piece of paper. Michelangelo was said to seek out the hidden shape within the stone when he was creating a sculpture. What reserves of patience and focus do you need to find the hidden words […]
Album reviews: Switchfoot, Josh Matthews, Billie Joe + Norah,
Switchfoot Fading West/Atlantic Records Switchfoot has long been known as a maverick of modern Christian rock because of its thoughtful writing as well as its faith-inspired content. After the gritty, soul-searching 2011 album Vice Verses, Fading West feels like a deep exhale. The latest [...]
Film review: Ride Along is heavy on plot and light on laughs
The buddy cop movie is a familiar trope with many variations. You could have a cop and a crook (48 Hrs.); two cops and a fish-out-of-water cop (Beverly Hills Cop); a straight-and-narrow cop and a by-the-book cop (Lethal Weapon); the villain-is-the-sidekick-in-spirit gag (Die Hard); and the [...]
Two films that had significant impact on current pop culture
If you were a cinephile or an aspiring filmmaker in 1994, the influence of Pulp Fiction was impossible to ignore—especially if you were a 13-year-old boy. Throughout that year, Tarantino’s sophomore effort became more or less gospel in the worlds of independent film and popular culture, which [...]
Film review: Lone Survivor
Mark Wahlberg is a bad actor. There are movies when he’s passable (Date Night; Ted), but most of the time he’s inexplicably praised (his wretchedly unbelievable performance in The Departed) or he makes bad movies worse (The Happening; Broken City; The Lovely Bones; I Heart Huckabees). It’s [...]
Album reviews: Stoney, Jess Novak, States
Stoney More Than Animals/Self-released More Than Animals is an eclectic, largely engaging album. If you like your British singer-songwriters with a little bit of swagger, then Stoney’s your guy. “Sweet Release” is a raucous piece of pop rock, and driving numbers like “The Score” crank up the [...]
Film review: Her
It’s the sort of utopian, not-too-distant future. Men wear high-waisted pants and mustaches without irony. Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his operating system. It sounds crazy. And creepy. Though how far are we from that reality? We’re already in love with our gadgets. Why shouldn’t it be [...]
Film review: Ben Stiller’s Walter Mitty is a meandering mess
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is terrible. Just terrible. It’s wrongheaded, silly, and worse, confused. The story—about Walter (Ben Stiller), who works as a negative asset manager at Life magazine—is pretty straightforward. Walter doesn’t have much of a life, so he fantasizes. But then [...]
Film review: Despite an A-list cast, American Hustle stumbles
American Hustle is, in some circles, being touted as a masterpiece. It’s easy to see why. Good cast (Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner). Respected director (David O. Russell, who had a major hit with Cooper and Lawrence and Silver Linings Playbook). And crime in [...]
The best movies of 2013! Yowza!
Each year when I put together a list of the best movies—whether for work or for fun—it usually doesn’t take much effort. There are, generally, five or six movies that stand out above the rest, whether they’re huge Hollywood blockbusters or tiny indie gems. This year the story is a little [...]
Album reviews: Sam Bush and Kathryn Caine, Ed Kowalczyk, Mason Jennings
Sam Bush and Kathryn Caine Love and Mercy/Self-released Love and Mercy will stoke the embers of even the most jaded cynic’s heart during the cold holiday season. This collection of covers succeeds in inspiring listeners to hope, even in the darkest times. Employing an engaging folk rock sound, [...]
Film review: A hard luck story goes bust in Out of the Furnace
Out of the Furnace is so dark, gritty, and earnest, it’s a wonder it was made in a film world where irony rules. The movie’s inhabitants—mostly blue collar factory workers, cops and their families in dying Braddock, Pennsylvania—take their lives seriously, and so does their director and [...]
Film reviews: The rundown on holiday films worth your dough
It’s December, and that means the awards-fodder movies are out. And guess what. Some of them are good! Here’s a list of five movies that range from near-great to head-scratching (but worth seeing) to one guilty pleasure. The Book Thief If Life is Beautiful is absolutely the wrong way to make a [...]
Film review: The Hunger Games Catching Fire
A quick rack of the brain and I come to this conclusion: I cannot remember a major, big budget action film that is at once so emotionally draining, deeply dramatic, and incredibly bleak. Thought the death of Rue was difficult in The Hunger Games? Just wait to see what happens when Katniss [...]
Album reviews: Maria Taylor, Stone Temple Pilots w Chester Bennington, Alex Caton
Maria Taylor Something About Knowing/Saddle Creek Inspired by a new phase in her life—that of being a first-time mother—Something About Knowing breaks slightly from singer-songwriter Maria Taylor’s traditional folk pop leanings and adds some new aesthetics to the mix. On “Up All Night,” her ode [...]
Film review: The Best Man Holiday is a smart, funny seasonal comedy
Fourteen years is a long time between chapters in a movie. Think about all the sequels, prequels, and bologna that take their time getting to the big screen, and you’ll find beaucoup bad movies: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and [...]
Film review: Thor: The Dark World lacks the superhero glow
Mere mortals, just who is Thor? Norse god? Superhero created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby? Bastard stepchild of the Marvel Avengers series? At this point, it’s not clear that anyone knows, least of all the filmmakers behind Thor: The Dark World. Is Thor a funny guy? Fear not, he’ll [...]
Film review: Robert Redford reclaims his acting cred on the open sea
Robert Redford has long been one of our greatest movie stars. He’s never been one of our greatest actors. For every compelling performance he gives—Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); All the President’s Men (1976)—he gives several bordering on narcolepsy. Just look at him in The Company [...]
Filmmaker and actor Brian Wimer on freedom in expression
“There’s a point in Peter Pan when Peter and Wendy are pretending to be parents to the Lost Boys. Peter says, ‘Are we playing or is this real?’ Wendy says, ‘Oh it’s a game, but it’s real.’ Eventually Peter says, ‘I’m tired of playing this game, let’s play a different one.’ But that’s the [...]
A conversation with Hitchcock ingénue Tippi Hedren
Last year’s HBO film The Girl depicted the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, and his discovery of Tippi Hedren, who went under contract with Hitch in 1961 and starred in his films The Birds and Marnie. The movie revealed the director’s obsessive desire to control [...]
VFF programmer Wesley Harris stays focused on film integrity
Program and operations manager Wesley Harris has served on the staff of the Virginia Film Festival since 2005. He started as an intern (for this writer) and was promoted to program coordinator while increasingly taking on more of the programming responsibilities. Along the way he helped refine [...]