Category Archives: Film & TV

Spring break is a spiritual thing, mostly. Or at least it is in “Spring Breakers,” Harmony Korine’s latest art film wrapped in provocation. Gathering up the opposite of a ragtag crew with erstwhile Disney innocents Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, “Pretty Little Liars” star Ashley Benson, his wife Rachel Korine and a freshly cornrowed James […]

David Wozniak wakes up one day to discover that he has 533 children. A seemingly impossible fact, this is the basis for Canadian director Ken Scott’s latest French-language comedy. “Starbuck” is the inspiring and well-told tale of an eternal man-child working at his family’s butcher shop who is shocked to discover that his sperm donations […]

As a child, Jason Kohl thought movies were made by space aliens.

Marcia Gay Harden once received a well-earned Academy Award for her role as expressionist painter Lee Krasner, opposite Ed Harris’ title character in “Pollock.” Twelve years later, Harden shows that her acting abilities have persisted, perhaps even evolved over time, but her ability to choose successful starring roles has clearly diminished. Comprised of many jumping-the-shark […]

On Hilgard, 50 girls hold their breath. The air is still, the tension thick. As the cameras zoom in on the final rose, the room stiffens, and each girl says a quick prayer for her favorite contestant. But just as the Bachelor begins to part his lips, the back doors fly open and the girls’ […]

In 2009, Vanessa Yee began her graduate film thesis: a documentary that turned the camera not only on an issue in her community, but onto her own personal life.

“The ABCs of Death” is a bad movie – and some may find that endearing. An ambitious anthology that culls 26 short films from 26 international directors, “The ABCs of Death” is exactly what its title implies: juvenility posed against morbidity. As with most anthology films, there are gems and there are clunkers; for this […]