The Canyons Directed by Paul Schrader Written by Bret Easton Ellis USA, 2013 Director Paul Schrader and writer Bret Easton Ellis’ The Canyons is a lurid black hole of nothingness. Nothing people. Nothing places. Nothing futures. The film opens with varying shots of broken down and decrepit movie theaters, suggesting a permanent modern lapse in our ability …
The 2013 vision of the American dream is one of grossly vapid and misplaced entitlement, if the movies have anything to say about it. As much as coming-of-age stories like Mud and The Kings of Summer are building a trend at the halfway point of the year, the new age of narcissism is making an equally bold rush on Western cinema: first, Spring Breakers; then, Pain and Gain; and now, Sofia Coppola throws her hat in with The Bling Ring, a deliberately dispassionate look at some famous-for-wanting-to-be-famous kids who stole from the rich simply because they could.
The Bling Ring Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola USA, 2013 Her career was born in the excesses of the 1990s and Sofia Coppola’s career trajectory has brought her through one of the worst economic crisis’ in recent history and a period of social seriousness that she seems quite frankly out of step with. In …
The Parent Trap Directed by Nancy Meyers Written by David Swift, Nancy Meyers, and Charles Shyer Starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson Who is The Parent Trap for, really? The more I think about the plot structure of the 1961 and 1998 films from Walt Disney Pictures, it all starts to unravel. Not so …
Has it only been 14 years since Lindsay Lohan was a respectable child actor? Yes, friends, this week on Mousterpiece Cinema, Josh and Gabe move past the 1961 version of The Parent Trap all the way to its 1998 remake, directed by Nancy Meyers and featuring the first major role from Ms. Lohan. In this …
Herbie: Fully Loaded Directed by Angela Robinson Written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar & Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant Starring Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Justin Long, Matt Dillon Somehow, I have survived the world of Herbie, the Love Bug. This gauntlet has been trying, but I’ve grown as a person by making it …
What better way to celebrate Mousterpiece Cinema’s 50th episode than with another milestone? Yes, after what feels like years but has really only been a few months, Josh and Mike have reached the end of the Herbie, the Love Bug franchise. (Or have they?) This week, they’re thrilled that Herbie has finally joined the 21st …