#goodfilm

The Infiltrator

/ Tom / 10 Comments

Release: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 [Theater] Written by: Ellen Brown Furman Directed by: Brad Furman Brad Furman wasn't looking to infiltrate more elite groups of directors who had earlier tackled the gritty but ever fascinating subject of the drug trafficking epidemic in America when he paired up with Bryan Cranston. That much is clear just based on the relative nonchalance … Continue reading The Infiltrator

Advertisements

The Lady in the Van

/ Tom / 22 Comments

Release: Friday, December 4, 2015 (limited) [Theater] Written by: Alan Bennett Directed by: Nicholas Hytner The Lady in the Van is really good if you like watching movies about the elderly, the homeless and the incontinent. (Spoiler alert: I don't mind them.) Maggie Smith, who is the lady in the van, is a real piece of work in … Continue reading The Lady in the Van

Creep

/ Tom / 17 Comments

Release: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 [Netflix] Written by: Patrick Brice; Mark Duplass Directed by: Patrick Brice Creep is Brice's directorial debut, pairing the writer-director with master of strange Mark Duplass of mostly independent film fame. As with his sophomore effort The Overnight the less I mumble on, the higher Creep's potential to surprise becomes. And if I'm not just … Continue reading Creep

The Voices

/ Tom / 40 Comments

Release: Friday, February 6, 2015 [Redbox] Written by: Michael R. Perry Directed by: Marjane Satrapi I always knew cats were inherently evil. What with their pawing and purring and hairballs and general infatuation with chasing their own tails. Is evil the right word? In this case, yes . . . yes it is; cats take on an entirely darker … Continue reading The Voices

It Follows

/ Tom / 42 Comments

Release: Friday, March 13, 2015 [Theater] Written by: David Robert Mitchell Directed by: David Robert Mitchell Subtly unsettling and certainly spooky the unseen, inexplicable threat at the heart of It Follows is not likely to strike you right away, but if you let it that paranoid feeling will eventually find you. David Robert Mitchell has come up with a … Continue reading It Follows

Cheap Thrills

/ Tom / 13 Comments

Release: Friday, March 21, 2014 (limited) [Netflix] Written by: David Chirchirillo; Trent Haaga  Directed by: E.L. Katz There are some things money can't buy. As Cheap Thrills goes to show, confidence, self-respect, and social acceptance apparently aren't among those things. Here is a movie that invites the viewer to bare witness to something of a moral dilemma: watching a man … Continue reading Cheap Thrills

Whiplash

/ Tom / 38 Comments

Release: Friday, October 10, 2014 (limited) [Theater] Written by: Damien Chazelle  Directed by: Damien Chazelle I know that Terence Fletcher wouldn't give a rat's you-know-what about any kind of critique of his performance or his teaching methods. So we'll keep this between us, okay? I don't want a chair thrown at me, thank you very much. In this surprisingly … Continue reading Whiplash

The Judge

/ Tom / 17 Comments

Release: Friday, October 10, 2014 [Theater] Written by: Nick Schenk; Bill Dubuque  Directed by: David Dobkin The honorable David Dobkin, who's responsible for giving the world Wedding Crashers, presides over his very first drama and makes a relatively strong case for his continued exploration outside his comfort zone. Despite narrative clutter and a doggedly long runtime (almost two and a half hours), … Continue reading The Judge