I think it says something about the new Mark Wahlberg vehicle, Contraband, that I keep forgetting its name. What is it again? Contraption? Contraception? In the end, I made up a trick to remember: an image of Mark Wahlberg wearing a new ultra conservative brand of Ray-Bans while he steals piles of money. Unfortunately the film […]
What is it about horses that tap into our deepest empathies? Perhaps these animals are the ultimate symbol for humanity—so that when their wildness is tamed, or they are mistreated, it reminds us of our own plights. Or maybe it is just that they are innocent and beautiful. Whatever the reason, Steven Spielberg’s new film […]
Charlize Theron has transformed herself again, only instead of the prosthetics and make-up necessary to make her ugly for Monster, Young Adult’s Mavis uses prosthetics and make-up in a painstaking routine to make sure everyone knows she is beautiful. Mavis is in her late thirties, by all means an adult, but whether due to the […]
Let me tell you the story of a film. A young writer wants to make it in Hollywood and writes a hilarious screenplay that he also feels represents him as a person. He has a twin sister and wants the world to know what the relationship between two people, whose shared gooey womb has allowed […]
Characters with terminal illnesses are a movie cliché of epic proportions. They may even have a support group we don’t know about. When the illness is cancer, what could have otherwise been a poignant, enjoyable film immediately invokes groans. The doctor enters the room with those tragic test results, shaking his head in dismay, and […]
