Danny Elfman

Sundance 2015: ‘The End of the Tour’ a quiet, affecting primer on the life of David Foster Wallace

The End of the Tour is the next offering from director James Ponsoldt, who brought us Smashed and The Spectacular Now. With The End of the Tour he takes us on another odyssey of a mind struggling to survive itself. The late author David Foster Wallace was revered during his time for the novel Infinite Jest and made a significant impact on literature before killing himself in 2008. This film dramatizes a few days in 1996 when Foster Wallace allowed a Rolling Stone reporter to visit and interview him at length. What emerges during the course of their casual and profound conversations is a cinematic think piece about loneliness, success, and American consumerism.

‘Big Eyes’ is a fairy tale in disguise

At first glance, Tim Burton’s latest, Big Eyes, appears to be a departure from the filmmaker’s general proclivities towards the grotesque and fantastical. Scissor-handed youths, murderous barbers, and obnoxious ghouls are nowhere to be found in this deceptively straightforward biopic of kitsch-master Walter Keane and his wife, Margaret. A cursory glance at the film might lead one to question just what Burton thinks he’s doing in the realm of realism.

Childhood Memories: Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

For me, film has always been a strong source of inspiration. As long as I can remember, I have been truly captivated by the motion picture. One of my earliest memories would have to be seeing the first Batman in theaters a quarter of a century ago. In 1989, “Batmania” was sweeping the nation and I was perfectly content playing with my Toy Biz and Kenner action figures. The character of Batman had been around 50 years before I was even born and I’m sure other children before me have been amazed by The Caped Crusader’s various adventures. Tim Burton’s epic would have to be my first experience seeing The Dark Knight in action and it was monumental one at that.

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