Ponyo

Ponyo

Film review by: Witney Seibold

This thing I like best about Hayao Miyazaki’s children is how autonomous they are. Their parents are never evil or irresponsible people, but Miyazaki understands, like all good authors of childrens’ fiction, that children, when left to their own devices, can learn about the world and discover new things just fine on their own.

Taxidermia

Taxidermia

Film review by: Witney Seibold

Györgi Pálfi’s striking film “Taxidermia” was released in Hungary in 2006. It is only, just now in 2009, getting a release stateside. Often foreign-language hits don’t take so long to make it overseas, but, given the content of “Taxidermia,” it’s a small miracle that it got released anywhere at all.

(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer

Film review by: Witney Seibold

So yeah, there was this one girl. This one girl that I was totally enamored of. This one girl who was beautiful, funny, charming, and who had nearly identical interests to me. I was totally into her. Of course, she didn’t feel the same way about me. My heart was broken.

Hellboy

Hellboy
Film review by: Witney Seibold

Ron Perlman in the title role of “Hellboy” is the most brilliant stroke of casting since… I’ll say Crispin Glover as Willard.

The Seagull’s Laughter

The Seagull’s Laughter
Film review by: Witney Seibold

“The Seagull’s Laughter” (Iceland’s 2002 Oscar entry, only now making it to US theaters), written and directed by Ágúst Guðmudsson, and based on the novel by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir, obviously started with a good idea.

A Word on ZBS

ZBS Radio drama
Article by: Witney Seibold

Radio drama is not dead.

Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen

Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen
Film review by: Witney Seibold

“Red trousers” as is iterated endlessly throughout the film, are the pantaloons donned by the indentured servants of the Beijing Opera, the source, many believe, of what we perceive today to be action choreography.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Film review by: Witney Seibold

I have a horrible confession to make. I talk during movies.

My Architect

My Architect
Film review by: Witney Seibold

Louis I. Kahn died in a men’s room at Penn Station at age 73.

The Dreamers

The Dreamers
Film review by: Witney Seibold

The year is 1968, and Matthew (the pasty and pouty Michael Pitt from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) is bumming around Paris taking in screening after screening of Fuller, Godard, Truffaut, and Ray (Nick, not Satyajit).