In Black Panther Chadwick Boseman walks with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Not only because he plays a king (uneasy lies the head that wears a crown), but also because he bears the brunt of the audience’s expectations. Ryan Coogler’s new film, the latest instalment in the Marvel franchise, is the first […]
Siren Song: ‘The Shape of Water’ (2017)
Raindrops dancing on a window. The still surface of a pool. A room drowned in water and a woman floating—Sleeping Beauty rocked by the sea. The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s new film, pools in the mind and seeps into the imagination. It’s a love story as fluid as the deep. The tale begins […]
So Bad It’s Good: ‘The Room’ (2003)
This article was originally published on Starring NYC (now sadly defunct) and has been dusted off and spruced up for its Movie Maven debut. Awful. Abysmal. Atrocious. Yes, it’s Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 film The Room. Hailed as one of the worst movies ever made, the film is a bizarre conglomeration of terrible performances, shoddy camerawork […]
The Measure of a Man: ‘Lincoln’ (2012)
Today is Election Day—the perfect day to revisit one of the finest films made about American politics this decade. In shooting Lincoln, Steven Spielberg said he “wanted to show that [Abraham Lincoln] was a man, not a monument.” He succeeded, admirably. Honest Abe is one of America’s most beloved presidents and the temptation to swathe […]
Things that go boom: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015)
In the closing credits of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon’s sequel to his 2012 blockbuster The Avengers, the camera swoops over majestic statues of the titular heroes, wielding hammers and shields and fists, and striking poses worthy of Greek gods. The statues are all part of a great marble edifice that evokes the scale […]
Dazed and confused: ‘Trance’ (2013)
In the closing credits of Danny Boyle’s film, Trance, time winds back on itself to reveal the lifecycle of a painting in reverse: paint is stripped away, layer by layer, figures devolving into amorphous blotches of colour, until only a blank canvas remains. It’s a clever flourish for a film obsessed with perception and memory—and that’s […]
Not worth the price of ‘Admission’
For a film about decisions, Admission (2013) can’t seem to make up its mind. Is Paul Weitz’s comedy a farce about the Ivy League admissions process, a cringe comedy about one woman’s regimented life unravelling, or a meditation on missed opportunities and unconventional families? Like an over-eager student’s personal essay, the film tries to cram in too […]
Till the stars turn cold: ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ (2013)
Stars swirling in the cosmos. A record turning on a turntable. The camera drifts in circles over a woman lying like Millais’ Ophelia amidst a sea of books, and a man in a similar pose, clutching a lute—all set to the screeching vocals and dissonant guitar of Wanda Jackson’s ‘Funnel of Love’. This is director […]