Rachel Getting Married is a film that, by description, promises studio indie cliché by the boatload. Big name director (Jonathan Demme) and a big star (Anne Hatahway) looking to show her Oscar chops in a drama set around a big dysfunctional family gathering. Plus, the star plays an obnoxious off-putting sourpuss. Cue Noah Baumbach’s Margot [...]
Movie Review by Noah Mallin The opening scene of Charlie Wilson’s War hits a giddy high that promises the kind of balls-out gonzo politics movie that Bulworth and a very few others have delivered. Texas Congressman Wilson, played by Tom Hanks, is ensconced in a hot tub with two strippers, a Playboy bunny, and a [...]
Review by Noah Mallin The story goes that the idea for Monsieur Verdoux, based on a real case, was given to Charlie Chaplin by Orson Welles. Chaplin neglected to credit Welles onscreen until after the film’s premiere in 1947 – just in time for an onslaught of negative reviews. It’s easy to see what reviewers [...]
An Appreciation by Noah Mallin The 80s were a time of innocence, joy, and philandering bosses of vague sexuality that rip off their companies for mucho dinero. But enough about Michael Milken . The film at hand is Weekend at Bernie’s, a 1989 sort-of classic that strains hard to be a Blake Edwards type farce [...]
Review by Noah Mallin I’ve been on a Sam Fuller kick lately, partly from being engrossed in his lively autobiography. This underrated American director has a thriving cult and I suppose I can be counted as a member. You could do worse as an introduction than Eclipse’s The First Films of Sam Fuller, out now [...]
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