Sometimes in an interview there’s a defining line. And in talking to Oscar Isaac about JC Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR on December 5, 2014, it came towards the end our conversation, when I had asked what I called the “obligatory Star Wars question”. As Isaac was describing his method for getting into character as an… Read More »
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 — Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara, Dean Deblois & Bonnie Arnold
Interviewing four people at once can be daunting when it comes to getting everyone to join in the conversation, but the gang from the Dreamworks animated film HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 had spent so much time together since the making of DRAGON 1, that they were almost a single entity. When I spoke… Read More »
TAKEN 3
And so once again we are in the company of Bryan Mills and his very specific skill set as brought to life by the incomparable Liam Neeson. The one-man demolition squad, trained by the darkest of black ops, is once again called into action when his family is threatened. Fortunately, this is no irksome… Read More »
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR Is A Most Excellent Film
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR begins, appropriately enough, with its protagonist, Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) running. Though this is merely jogging through the snowy landscape of 1981 New York, he will spend the rest of the film running more purposefully either literally, figuratively, or both, as he scrambles to overcome fate and the fickleness of human… Read More »
Just Try to Resist PADDINGTON
There is a certain trepidation that accompanies any screening of a film released in January. This is the graveyard of films that failed to meet studio expectations, but that for some reason or another, are due a theatrical release. There is even more trepidation when the film is one aimed at children. How bad, one… Read More »
The WHIPLASH of Damien Chazelle
When I met Damien Chazelle, one of the first things I said to him was that his film WHIPLASH had to be one of the sweatiest movies ever made, up there with BEN HUR and COOL HAND LUKE. He laughed and said he was pleased to have filled such a niche market. That’s the kind of guy… Read More »
Laura Poitras Meets CITIZENFOUR
Laura Poitras was hoarse the day I interviewed her for CITIZENFOUR. Her remarkable eye-witness documentary about Edward Snowden leaking NSA secrets to the press resulted in everyone wanting to talk to her. When we spoke, though, her dedication to bringing the truth to light was intact. I started by asking what it was like to… Read More »
David Burris — THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT
When I spoke with David Burris on December 18, 2014, one of the things I most wanted to talk to him about was getting the accents right in THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT. It’s set in North Carolina, and he used actors from such far-flung places as Australia, England, and Los Angeles. We went on to… Read More »
TOP FIVE = Top Flight
TOP FIVE starts a little out of chronological sequence with two protagonists walking down a Manhattan sidewalk discussing art and life. Specifically art versus life with one opining that a movie is just a movie while the other disagrees. The man, as we will shortly learn, is Andre Allen (Chris Rock), superstar funnyman and recovering… Read More »
THE HOMESMAN
Tommy Lee Jones is a dour man, at least on screen. His carefully cultivated persona is a laconic one of few words and little patience. It is a character that he plays to perfection, and in THE HOMESMAN,he imbues it with a wonderful, understated quirkiness that makes his star quality all the more charismatic. As… Read More »
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