Multi-hyphenate Armando Iannucci might be the best working satirist today (all seven seasons of Veep are streaming on HBO Max and DirecTV). His take on the transfer of power in the USSR circa 1953 is so loaded with jokes you have to … Continue reading THE DEATH OF STALIN
Today, Netflix releases the latest from writer/director Ramin Bahrani, The White Tiger, an adaptation of Indian author Aravind Adiga’s debut novel about the rise of Balram (Adarsh Gourav) from a coal breaker’s son to driven entrepreneur. Told in flashback and at … Continue reading Ramin Bahrani
In 2015, I thought about the images that defined the year in cinema. In 2016, I considered how cinematic output shaped the various tendrils of Hollywood. In 2017, I found solace in the cinema, no matter how downbeat it appeared … Continue reading 2018: An Embarrassment of Riches
A young man with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a deployed parachute hangs by a dead tree branch. The landscape around him is desolate. Then, from the dust and mist, a large black figure approaches. It … Continue reading Animation Double Feature
Plunging temperatures and snow have returned to Colorado’s Front Range. As I donned my heavy coat to walk to the library today, images from Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight flashed through my mind. Now there was a movie with some good coats. Particularly … Continue reading Courtney Hoffman and Rosemary Brandenburg on THE HATEFUL EIGHT
Set on an island off the Irish Coast, Song of the Sea follows Saoirse (voiced by Lucy O’Connell), a young girl whose mother disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was born. The loss has caused Saoirse’s older brother, Ben (David Rawle), to … Continue reading SONG OF THE SEA
You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours,” Herman J. Mankiewicz says. “All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.” The movie Mankiewicz refers to is Citizen Kane—arguably one of the most well-known movies ever made—but … Continue reading MANK
To hold a meteorite is to place an object older than the history of humanity in your hand. It’s also to touch a truly foreign object. Where it came from and how long it took to get here, we cannot … Continue reading FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS
Boulder-based filmmaker Jeff Orlowski has a new documentary out on Netflix, The Social Dilemma, about the tech industry—specifically the companies associated with social media. You can probably guess the topics of interest: Undermined democratic processes and the rise of conspiracy theories … Continue reading CHASING CORAL
