Category: Films

Spinning Platters Interview: Sam Rockwell and Martin McDonagh on “Seven Psychopaths”

Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, and Sam Rockwell in SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

Seven Psychopaths may only be the second feature-length film from writer/director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), but it appears that he’s already having his 8 1/2 moment. A fragmented and bizarre but explosively funny crime comedy, it is ostensibly the story of Marty (Colin Farrell), a screenwriter attempting to write his next script, titled…Seven Psychopaths. There’s just one problem: despite the title, Marty has only thought of one psychopath. But when his friend Billy (Sam Rockwell), an aspiring actor and serial dognapper, and his dognapping partner Hans (Christopher Walken), unwittingly steal Bonny, the beloved shih tzu of vicious L.A. gangster Charlie (Woody Harrelson), Marty begins to realize that he may actually be surrounded by psychopaths.

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Film Review: “The Paperboy”

Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, and David Oyelowo in THE PAPERBOY

starring: Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo, Macy Gray

written by: Lee Daniels and Pete Dexter

directed by: Lee Daniels

MPAA: Rated R for strong sexual content, violence and language

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Film Review: “Pitch Perfect”

Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick in PITCH PERFECT

starring: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Adam DeVine, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks, John Benjamin Hickey

written by: Kay Cannon

directed by: Jason Moore

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sexual material, language and drug references

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Click to Reveal Spoilers: Questions About What Happened in Rian Johnson’s “Looper”

I’ve warned you. Put this post down! Don’t you dare read it before seeing the movie!

Please don’t read this post until you’ve already seen Rian Johnson’s excellent film, Looper. I’m about to spoil the heck out of it. There are some lingering questions about this movie (most of them crazy theories) that I want to discuss with someone, so I’m asking you, the Internet, to discuss it with me. If you click to read more, I’m going to assume you’ve seen it. Click below to reveal spoilers. Continue reading “Click to Reveal Spoilers: Questions About What Happened in Rian Johnson’s “Looper””

Spinning Platters Interviews: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rian Johnson on “Looper”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis in LOOPER

Looper, the ingenious new sci-fi drama from writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick), has one hell of a setup. The year is 2044, and time travel hasn’t been invented yet — but it will be. And when it is, it immediately becomes illegal. But in the bombed-out dystopian American future of Johnson’s imagining, time travel’s illegality just means powerful crime syndicates are the only ones with access to it. Due to implanted tracking devices, disposing of bodies in the future is impossible. So the mobsters dispatch their targets back to 2044, bound and hooded, where they are immediately shot and killed by assassins known as “loopers,” who then incinerate the remains. But a new crime boss known as The Rainmaker has risen to power, and he is determined to “close the loops” by finding the future versions of the assassins from 2044, sending them back in time and having them killed — by the younger versions of themselves. Got that? The loopers are understandably perturbed by this, and a moment’s hesitation can lead to the older version of themselves escaping and creating quite a time-space conundrum. Such is the case with Joe, played in 2044 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and in the future by Bruce Willis.

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Spinning Platters Interview: Michael Peña and Natalie Martinez on “End of Watch”

Michael Peña and Natalie Martinez in END OF WATCH

End of Watch is unlike any cop movie we’ve seen before. Its distinguishing traits range from its texture — the film is shot and edited to resemble a pulse-poundingly visceral “found footage” documentary — to its thoroughly realized characterizations of LAPD officers Brian (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike (Michael Peña), thrill-chasing partners and best friends who have a tendency to run toward the action while others run away from it. The film plays out like a feature-length episode of COPS as written by Aaron Sorkin or David Mamet; its substance comes from the palpable bond between Brian and Mike, which plays out in a series of remarkably authentic-feeling conversations we watch them have as they drive around on patrol, waiting for that next call, never knowing if they’ll be getting a cat out of a tree or walking into gunfire. This naturalistic and wholly believable quality comes both from the direction and script of David Ayer (Harsh Times) and the committed performances of Gyllenhaal and Peña, with whom Ayer rehearsed for several months before shooting the film to get their chemistry just right. Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez are heartfelt and dynamic as the officers’ better halves.

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Film Review: “Trouble with the Curve”

“An empty chair? What were you thinking?” Amy Adams and Clint Eastwood in TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE

starring: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Matthew Lillard, Robert Patrick

written by: Randy Brown

directed by: Robert Lorenz

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for language, sexual references, some thematic material and smoking

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Film Review: “The Master”

Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman in THE MASTER

starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons, Ambyr Childers, Rami Malek, Laura Dern, Patty McCormack

written and directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

MPAA: Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity and language

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Blu-ray Review: “Titanic”

starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Bill Paxton, Gloria Stuart, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates

written and directed by: James Cameron

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language

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Spinning Platters Interview: Zachary Booth and Ira Sachs on “Keep the Lights On”

Zachary Booth and Thure Lindhardt in Ira Sachs’ KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On is the luminously wrenching chronicle of a ten-year relationship between two men, Erik (Danish actor Thure Lindhardt) and Paul (Zachary Booth, best known as Glenn Close’s antagonistic son Michael on Damages). Erik is a sensitive and open-hearted documentary filmmaker, while the more reserved Paul has a successful job as a lawyer at a major publishing house. After meeting at random through a gay party line (remember those?), the two form an instant connection that long outlasts what could easily have ended as a one-night stand. There is, however, a problem: Paul is a drug addict. And not just any drug. Despite his lucrative white-collar Manhattan life, Paul is a crack addict. Another problem: Erik is in love with Paul, and doesn’t know how to respond to his addiction except by continuing to invest in their relationship. And so the stage is set for one of the most assured independent films of 2012, and arguably the most powerful American gay relationship drama since Brokeback Mountain.

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