Catching Up on 2011: Our Idiot Brother
In the film Our Idiot Brother, Paul Rudd plays the titular idiot, Ned Rochlin. Ned is an extremely sweet, well-meaning goofball, but he has an uncanny knack for wreaking unintentional havoc on the lives of everyone he encounters — along with his own! When we first meet him,
Days of De Palma (Part 4): Blow Out (1981)
After some delay (sorry about that!) we return to my Days of De Palma series, exploring the films of Brian De Palma! Much has been written about the way in which Brian De Palma’s films feel heavily influenced by the work of Alfred Hitchcock. Already in my De Palma viewing proj
Catching up on 2011: The Help
In preparing to write my Top 15 Movies of 2011 list, I made an effort to watch as many 2011 films as I possibly could. I’ve already written about many of those movies here on the site, but there were many that I saw that I haven’t had a chance to write about yet. [&hell
Days of Terrence Malick (Part 4): The Tree of Life (2011)
Yes, yes, I know my “Days of De Palma” series has been missing for several weeks. Rest assured, I’ve already seen and written about several more Brian De Palma films, and those reviews will be posted on the site for the next several Fridays in a row. But for now,
Josh Reviews Wanderlust!
In Wanderlust, George (Paul Rudd) and Linda (Jennifer Aniston) find their New York lifestyle overturned when George’s firm goes under and Linda’s depressing documentary about penguins gets rejected by HBO. With no jobs and no way to afford their apartment (tiny though
Getting Ready for the Oscars
I love watching the Oscars every year, though I am dismissive of them as an institution for judging great movies. It’s rare that I agree much with the nominations, and even rarer that I agree with who wins. Still, I love the spectacle of the show, and am always hoping for a
The Top 15 Movies of 2011 — Part One!
So last year I really struggled to come up with my Top 10 Movies list. I had a hard time finding ten films that I felt were really GREAT. What a difference a year makes! This year there were so many films that I loved that I wanted to include on my list that, for […]
Josh Reviews The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Let’s get this clear from the outset: I haven’t read Stieg Larsson’s original novel, nor have I see the Swedish film adaptation. What put the American film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my radar wasn’t any connection with the source materia
Josh Reviews The Artist
Well, I was already a big, big fan of star Jean Dujardin and director Michael Hazanavicius from their two OSS:117 French-language James Bond parody films, Cairo Nest of Spies (click here for my review) and Lost in Rio (click here for my review). Now, after seeing the two men’s
Josh Reviews Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I was absolutely taken with the 1979 BBC miniseries adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Sir Alec Guiness, which I watched just a few weeks ago. It was terrific preparation for the equally wonderful feature film adaptation of John le Carré’s spy novel, starring G