Big Money Rustlas
Film review by: Witney Seibold
The Insane Clown Posse is a baffling phenomenon. Based out of Detroit, they are a horrorcore rap group of white men who wear garish, frightening clown makeup, espouse the typical gangsta criminal lifestyle (often singing about rape and murder), and, as was recently revealed, are vitriolically anti-intellectual, and even claim to be Pentecostal Christians posing as popular entertainment. (more…)
Hereafter
Film review by: Witney Seibold
There are three stories in “Hereafter,” and it’s loaded with incident, but, thanks to Clint Eastwood‘s usual softly deft directing, and penchant for gentle, climax-free storytelling, it feels almost incidental. (more…)
RED (2010)
Film review by: Witney Seibold
There’s something kind of old-school about Robert Schwentke’s “RED.” It’s a thriller about classy sixty- and seventysomethings in classy situations, dealing with old school villains like Russians and corrupt politicians. It’s not shot in a gritty, “realistic” shakeycam style, but in a bright, chipper, clear fashion, that lends to humor rather than action. (more…)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Film review by: Witney Seibold
Oliver Stone‘s “Wall Street” (1987) was such an impactful film, that it is shown, to this day, in classrooms across the country to teach students the dangers of certain economic thinking. (more…)
Freakonomics
Film review by: Witney Seibold
This anthology documentary purports to blow the lid off of the way the American economy works, and how it’s influenced by unseen and unseeable influences. It essentially takes the easy road, throws its hand up and says that your guess is as good as ours. This is hardly a novel concept, and has been explored in better films (I hear that “Inside Job” is pretty infuriating), and it lends to an ultimately pointless film, but, luckily, we have some talented superstar doc directors to take us on an amusing journey. (more…)
Score
Film review by: Witney Seibold
There was a time when adult films were made for adults, and not gasping adolescents who are addicted to the Internet. Back in the 1970s, porn wnet mainstram for the first time, and what better way to take a view of that than Radley Metzger’s 1972 bisexual chic classic “Score.” (more…)
Catfish
Film review by: Witney Seibold
Nev Schulman is a handsome and naïve twentysomething living in the big city, working as a dance photographer, and sharing an office with his documentarian brother Rel Schulman, and Rel’s associate Henry Joost. When Nev received a painting in the mail of one of his photos, recently published in the New York Times, he begins to seek out a rapport with the artist, an 8-year-old girl named Abby living in Michigan. Abby and Nev talk a lot, and Nev becomes good friends with Abby and Abby’s mother Angela, communicating online and by phone. They become friend on Facebook, and Nev soon enters the social circle of Abby and Abby’s family. (more…)
The Town
Film review by: Witney Seibold
While “The Town” does not have the psychological heft of Ben Affleck‘s last directorial effort, “Gone, Baby, Gone,” nor is it marked by that film’s performing aplomb, “The Town” is still possessed of that local Bostonian authenticity that Affleck has now proven he is so good at directing, and it’s still a powerful crime drama. (more…)
