A masterful shortcut through a horrible travesty By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: [l to r] Henry Rollins and co-writer/director Amy Berg seek justice in “West of Memphis”; Rating: R Grade: A A monumental miscarriage of justice in the early 1990s leads to three young men – Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. – being [...]
Can a second “Exorcism” tame this demonic breakout? By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: David Jensen [left] and Ashley Bell [right] star in “The Last Exorcism Part 2” There’s a great, not-so-obvious hook in “The Last Exorcism 2,” which is the sequel to the successful 2010 found footage creeper feature about an evangelical exorcist named Cotton Marcus (Patrick [...]
A recent phone interview offers a brief guided tour By T.T. Stern-Enzi Mere mention of the Coppola name brings to mind some of the greatest films of the 1970s – the first two installments of “The Godfather” saga, “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now” – and then a new generational phase with “The Virgin Suicides” and [...]
Two directors with vastly different approaches to the short form By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Gabrielle Union and Alfre Woodard in the Miu Miu short by director Ava DuVernay, “The Door” Less than two years ago, I was a critic at odds with the declining state of our communal film experiences. Everything pointed to audience fragmentation, which [...]
As a director, Dustin Hoffman celebrates his fellow actors By T. T. Stern-Enzi Photo: [l to r] Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins star in “Quartet” Rating: PG-13 Grade: B+ I have been astonished at how little fanfare has accompanied the release of “Quartet” from Dustin Hoffman. As an actor, Hoffman has over [...]
Denmark’s Best Foreign Language nominee offers contemporary reflection By T.T. Stern-Enzi photo: Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen in “A Royal Affair” Rating: R Grade: B Niels Arcel, best known in the U.S. as one of the screenwriters on the original “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” re-teams with Rasmus Heisterberg, his partner on the aforementioned film, to [...]
Jacques Audiard uncovers wounded souls in harsh conditions By T.T. Stern-Enzi photo: [l to r] Armand Verdure and Matthias Schoenaerts in“Rust and Bone” Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) epitomizes what we – Westernized, sheltered, middle-class citizens – imagine when someone references brutes, bruisers or brutish behavior. Hip-hop has glamourized “thugs” and “the thug life,” but Ali comes from [...]
An unconventional gay couple fights the good fight By T.T. Stern-Enzi Photo: Garret Dillahunt and Alan Cumming star in “Any Day Now”: R Grade B- What happens when a sassy drag queen and a buttoned-up lawyer seek to gain custody of a young man with Down’s syndrome who has been abandoned by his drug addicted mother? [...]
Lena Dunham steps further outside her already uncomfortable zone By T.T. Stern-Enzi Rarely do I feel the need to follow-up a review or feature as directly as I will this week. The dialogue on race, which began with “Django Unchained” last week, demands further exploration, although with the gaze turned now to the small screen, [...]
A look at race relations in Quentin Tarantino’s curious revenge fantasy By T.T. Stern-Enzi Art – the best and the worst of the various forms – challenges audiences. It offers reflections that ping-pong from the surreal to the mundane, the radiantly abstract to the common, which at times can seem quite vulgar in their uncovering [...]
High Fructose Corn Syrup By Megan Garrison The FDA recently rejected a bid to officially change the name of high [...]
Walker was Victorious in Wisconsin Because His Reforms Worked By David H. Landon The folks at MSNBC had a bad [...]
It Takes More than a Tweet By Rana Odeh The victory of Republican Governor Scott Walker over Milwaukee Democrat Mayor [...]
What are the Consequences of Recall Election in Wisconsin? Last Tuesday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) prevailed in an unusual [...]
Obama’s Support of Same Sex Marriage Will Cost Him Swing States By David H. Landon By Election Day, the President’s [...]
President Obama Announces Support of Same-Sex Marriage Most pundits believe that this Presidential election will be decided on the issue [...]
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