Representation of the collective diaspora has always been thwarted by our need to classify films according to races other than white. Still, while labels can be debilitating, they can also be manipulated.
The great thing about America is that I can choose not to go see The Devil Inside. The terrible thing about America is that I can't choose not to see the trailer for The Devil Inside. To be honest, I had it coming.
On a film-by-film basis, Spielberg is far more likely to scare you or deeply disturb you than leave you with a nasty case of the warm-and-fuzzies.
The film hasn't received any Oscar nominations, but Ramsay demonstrates that her uniquely Scottish sensibility translates remarkably well stateside.
Each year, there are a few great films that get Park City buzz, only to disappear into a sea of megaplexes and blockbusters. I submit that many of these would have fared better on TV.
Is Neeson becoming the new Harrison Ford? Like that Hollywood icon, he has mastered the ability to serve up intense looks, conveying a wide range of emotions with few words.
You would think with a publishing contract, a high-powered agent, a movie in the works, that I was the most grateful writer on the planet. I was... and then I wasn't.
In the Land of Blood and Honey was actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be, which got me thinking about other actors-turned-directors who delivered surprisingly solid first films.
As a filmmaker, I was rooting for Detropia to weave a story of hope and promise and not dredge up the same old ghosts of ruin and despair. Alas, it seems like the blight temptress has claimed her latest victims.
Look what we got you at Sundance! OK, not really. We intended to bring you home one of everything we came across, but we couldn't afford the extra baggage fee when we tried to get on the airplane.
The Underworld franchise's relentless, death-dealing vampire, Selene, goes under ice at the beginning of Underworld: Awakening, and so does most of the series' political intrigue.
Before seeing Pina, I had agreed with the conventional wisdom that 3D was best suited for action and animated films, though the vast majority of 3D movies I'd seen so far had left me feeling like it shouldn't be used at all.
The Artist is the ultimate homage to Hollywood for the obvious reasons: it traces that transition from silent films to talkies, as does the classic of that genre, Singing in the Rain.
Independent filmmaker and writer Musa Syeed offers a rare view into the world of Kashmir through his first narrative feature, Valley of Saints, premiering this week at the Sundance Film Festival.
Packaged as a slick spy film, Haywire's been mildly poo-pooed by some critics but there's another way to see it: as a significant take on commerce and the tensions between men and women, and on a continuum with an earlier work, The Girlfriend Experience.
Mike Ryan, 2012.26.01