Astonishing X-Men Volume 1 HCJoss WhedonMarvelIf Buffy creator Joss Whedon had found the time to write and direct X-Men 3, it may have been a better movie. Instead, he wrote a new X-title (the first 12 issues collected in this handsome, hardcover edition), whose first story arc—a mutant “cure” is engineered— inspired the recent cinematic […]
Carsten Knox
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Bride & Prejudice
Published December 08, 2005. Bride & Prejudice Directed by: Gurinder Chadha (Alliance) Jane Austen by way of Bollywood. The Edwardian class struggle source material fits perfectly with the blokes-in-frocks bawdiness and the over-the-top conventions of Indian musicals, full of colour, gesture and romantic melodrama. Carsten Knox Categories: Best of the year (2005)
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The Jungle Book: 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition
The Jungle Book: 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition Directed by: Wolfgang ReithermanDisneyThe final animated effort Walt Disney had a hand in creating, this Rudyard Kipling tale is especially memorable for the swingin’ tunes. I defy you to watch it and not have “I Wanna Be Like You” by the Monkey King, Louis Prima, bouncing around your […]
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Primer
Primer Directed by: Shane Carruth(Thinkfilm) Primer is a dark, demanding film that explores the dream of science, to stumble across something that changes everything. It sits comfortably in the company of grim fantasy cinema such as Pi and Donnie Darko, a genre that can track tonal antecedents back to George Lucas’ THX 1138 and the […]
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Junebug
JunebugDirected by: Phil Morrison(Columbia TriStar)The best film of 2005 not be released in local theatres, Junebug is a gem. A North Carolina-born man brings his beautiful bride, a Chicago outsider art dealer, home to meet the family. Cue clashes of value, unexpected tenderness, moments of genuine cinematic grace.Carsten KnoxCategories: Best of the year (2006)
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The Machinist
Published December 08, 2005. The Machinist Directed by: Brad Anderson (Paramount) This absorbing little claustrophobic thriller is notable mostly for the physical transformation undergone by lead Christian Bale. His body becomes a character in the film?the actor starved himself to a frighteningly skeletal extreme. Watch The Machinist with Batman Begins and the level of his […]
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Rock School
Rock School Directed by: Don ArgottA&E FilmsPaul Green is a Philadelphia-based former musician and current capo di tutti capi of Rock School, a music camp of the sort Jack Black founds in the conclusion of the Richard Linklater comedy School of Rock. Green is irrepressible, the kind of guy whose mouth is in gear way […]
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Bubble
BubbleDirected by: Steven Soderbergh(Magnolia Pictures/2929 Entertainment)You may have heard about the controversy around Bubble—that it was an experiment, of sorts, released on DVD and in theatres on the same day. The merits of messing with movie distribution aside, what’s curious is they chose to do it with a project that will attract at best a […]
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The Squid and the Whale
The Squid and the WhaleDirected by: Noah Baumbach(Sony)Writer-director Noah Baumbach mined his childhood on Brooklyn’s Park Slope for this ’80s-set dark comedy about the sons of two writers (Laura Linney, and in a truly great performance, Jeff Daniels) struggling to deal with their parents’ shit through a bad divorce. Hellishly funny.Carsten KnoxCategories: Best of the […]
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Volver
VolverDirected by: Pedro Almodovar(Sony)Pedro Almodovar writes the best roles in his films for women. The much-loved, flamboyant director is like a Spanish Woody Allen without the self-obsessive angst, plus a touch of Hitchcock, exploring communities and relationships from a feminine point of view. Volver tells the story of two sisters, Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) and Soledad […]
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Bride and Prejudice
Bride and PrejudiceDirected by: Gurinder Chadha(Pathé/Miramax)Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is transformed into a Bollywood musical by the British-raised director of Bend it Like Beckham with absolutely delightful results. The Bennets become the Bakshis, a middle-class Indian family living in Punjab whose matriarch is eager to marry off the eldest of four daughters as quickly […]
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Daredevil: The Devil Inside & Out, Vol. 1
Daredevil: The Devil Inside & Out, Vol. 1Ed BrubakerMarvelSince Frank Miller’s legendary ’80s Daredevil stories, the brooding, blind vigilante has been the hero with grit and realism—as far as it goes in tales of men in tights. Brian Michael Bendis’ run outed Matt Murdock to the public as Daredevil, but the revelation of his secret […]
