Monthly Archives: December 2009 »
Avatar
Avatar Dir: James Cameron Rating: 3.5/5.0 20th Century Fox 163 Minutes When the lights came up on the Avatar press screening, one of my fellow critics stood, stretched and exclaimed (as critics are wont
Read More »Up in the Air
Up in the Air Dir: Jason Reitman Rating: 3.0/5.0 Paramount Pictures 109 Minutes George Clooney seems to be everywhere. Following his performances in this fall’s Men Who Stare at Goats and Fantastic Mr. Fox,
Read More »Broken Embraces
Broken Embraces Dir: Pedro Almodovar Rating: 2.5/5.0 Sony Pictures Classics 128 Minutes Like most of his fans, I love to love Pedro Almodóvar and his movies. However, it would be disingenuous of me not
Read More »Ricky
Ricky Dir: François Ozon Rating: 1.0/5.0 IFC Films 89 Minutes Ricky is unextraordinary and tedious in every sense; a movie that feels like an imposition. François Ozon’s latest is an attempt at a modern,
Read More »A Town Called Panic
A Town Called Panic Dir: Stéphane Audier and Vincent Patar Rating: 4.0/5.0 Zeitgeist Films 75 Minutes Animation’s essential attractiveness is in its material reality. It evokes the image of the artist drawing, sculpting, rendering,
Read More »Hannah Free
Hannah Free Dir. Wendy Jo Carlton Rating: 2.5/5.0 Ripe Fruit Films Even the most hardened cynic will concede, albeit reluctantly, that inspirational love stories tend to draw an audience. Particularly when these stories examine
Read More »The 20 Best Albums of 2009
We here at Spectrum Culture welcome you to our first annual retrospective of the year’s best albums. We hope you have a great holiday season and thank you for reading! We will begin publishing
Read More »Cocktail: Mulled Wine
If you happen to be a holiday season junkie – as I myself most certainly and unabashedly am – you’ve probably already discovered the spicy, scrumptious perfection that is mulled wine. This is a
Read More »My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done Dir: Werner Herzog Rating: 3.0/5.0 Absurda 108 Minutes It’s impossible to consider My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done outside the context of its slightly
Read More »Home
Home Dir: Ursula Meier Rating: 4.0/5.0 Lorber Films 98 Minutes There is no art without ambition – ambition in the means an artist has at her disposal, in her desire to try new things,
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