Cloverfield

Cloverfield

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            From Matt Reeves, the director of the David Schwimmer vehicle “The Pallbearer,” comes the most thrilling kaiju film since… well, actually I think I can safely say this is the best American kaiju film ever made. (more…)

Published in: on August 27, 2008 at 11:14 pm Comments (1)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is pragmatic, engaged to be married, not given to flights of romantic fancy. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is passionate, has a short attention span, and can only feel romance if it’s borne of drama and impulse. (more…)

Published in: on August 26, 2008 at 5:51 pm Leave a Comment

The Midnight Meat Train

The Midnight Meat Train

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            These days, it’s rare to see a horror film in American theaters that isn’t a remake, either of a mildly popular American film or an obscure J-horror hit, so the appearance of “The Midnight Meat Train” is something of an event. (more…)

Published in: on August 21, 2008 at 11:13 pm Leave a Comment

Poltergeist: A Tale of Childhood Trauma

Poltergeist: A Tale of Childhood Trauma

Film article by: Witney Seibold

 

            I had a lot of nightmares as a kid. My dad tells me a story of when I was not yet three years old, how I would wail in the middle of the night that beasts and monsters were slithering around under my bedcovers with me. (more…)

Published in: on August 18, 2008 at 8:25 pm Comments (2)

Frozen River

Frozen River

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            One of the first shots in “Frozen River” is an extreme close-up of Melissa Leo’s face. There seems to be an eternity of hurt etched into every unwanted wrinkle. (more…)

Published in: on at 5:56 pm Leave a Comment

Crash (2005)

Crash (2005)

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            The story goes that writer/director Paul Haggis (of Million Dollar Baby recent fame) was carjacked by two young black men, and, in response to his feelings of violation and outrage, as well as a startling streak of racism he never thought he had, he wrote the screenplay to Crash (No relation to the Cronenberg film of the same name, although this film would have been a lot more fun had there been more car wreck eroticism). (more…)

Published in: on August 12, 2008 at 10:41 pm Leave a Comment

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            Dangit, stop remaking horror films! (more…)

Published in: on at 10:27 pm Leave a Comment

Night Watch (2005)

Night Watch

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            So the film is a bit confusing. And the David Fincher-inspired photography is dizzying (do we really need pans through a truck’s innards, indicating exactly which parts are igniting?). And it does have the same kind of alienating teen fanboy overenthusiasm akin to genre flicks like Underworld and Constantine that chooses special effects over common story semblance. But Timor Bekmambetov’s Night Watch, the first post-Soviet Russian supernatural action thriller I can think of (and the first part of a proposed trilogy), is actually kind of fun. (more…)

Published in: on at 10:22 pm Leave a Comment

Freedomland

Freedomland

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            Freedomland is an awful film. (more…)

Published in: on at 10:20 pm Leave a Comment

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

            Author J.T. Leroy had a terrible childhood. His life as a young prostitute, he explains, was caused by an unhealthy bond with his mother, a prostitute herself, a drug addict, an abuser, a transient. He was forced, he claims, by drugs, a bad example, and not a little bit of madness into a hurtful life which he was convinced was a comfort. Oh, By the way, J.T. Leroy, it has recently been revealed, does not exist. (more…)

Published in: on at 10:18 pm Leave a Comment