BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP 10/25

12 YEARS A SLAVETWELVESLAVE

“So profoundly powerful that other movies touching on or dealing directly with slavery seem weak by comparison.” – David Riedel, Raw Denim

“Treating other people as lower than shit is a tenet of this country’s history, and we need to see it in all its ugly truth.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

“Even for someone as talented as McQueen, this is a step forward in craft.” – Andrew Crump, A Constant Visual Feast

“The desire to attain permanent fixture status, both in American History and Film Studies courses, is palpable.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist

“Remarkably, possessed of a transcendent lyricism that allows us to breathe in the suffering first hand, the horror resonating through our consciousness by way of our bones.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

“If 12 YEARS A SLAVE doesn’t become required viewing in our schools and LINCOLN does, the understanding future generations have of slavery is doomed.” – Kris Jenson, Dig Boston 

COUNSELORTHE COUNSELOR

“It’s like getting a fortune cookie that reads, ‘Life is meaningless and then you die.’ Whether you agree with the message or not, is that really what you go to the movies to hear?” – Dan Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

 

BADGRANDPAJACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA

 

“It’s still enjoyable, sure — it’s just not so revolutionary anymore.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE

“Apparently there’s always an audience for a joke involving explosive flatulence.” – Dan Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

 

ALL LOST

ALL IS LOST

“Robert Redford has long been one of our greatest movie stars. He’s never been one of our greatest actors, but here he rises to the challenge.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

 

REVIEW ROUND-UP 10/18

CARRIE (2013)CARRIE

“The most unnecessary remake since Gus van Sant’s peculiar shot-for-shot remake of PSYCHO in 1998.” – Dan Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“A complete waste of time and energy for everyone involved and for the audience unfortunate enough to watch it.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist

“However despite their [Moretz and Moore] efforts, they cannot overcome director Pierce’s misguided vision for this bloody mess of a remake.”-Tim Estiloz, Examiner

 

ESCAPE PLANESCAPE PLAN

“The picture makes gestures to trope-subversion and social awareness, but it’s filler, not commentary.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“This is the action version of those movies with ensemble casts of older British actors being adorably British together.” – Dan Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The Italian Stallion is stuck carrying the burden of exposition, mumbling semi-intelligibly about structural engineering while The Governator goes hog-wild, stealing scenes with reckless abandon.” – Sean Burns, Metro

 

THE FIFTH ESTATEFIFTH ESTATE

“Keeps its own perspective unmistakably clear; praising the ideals behind WikiLeaks while damning its figurehead as an icy, intemperate megalomaniac.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist

“As riveting as a ‘tweet’ on Twitter. It might grab your attention for the moment but it has no staying power.” – Dan Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“…stutters along for the span of its running time, alternating between working perfectly and operating clunkily in fits and spurts before shuddering to a helpless climax long after overstaying its welcome.” – Andrew Crump, Go-See-Talk

 

DRUGWAR1DRUG WAR

“To’s worked around the censors by imbuing his societal criticism into the mood and tone of the piece, rather than the text.”- Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“The stark consequences and eventual pile-up of dead bodies gunned down in front of a schoolyard say all we need to know about this dead-end trade. DRUG WAR is cold, hard and impeccable.”- Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP 10/11

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

“The name to note, though, is Paul Greengrass. [He is] a filmmaker with a solid vision behind the camera, and this ought to secure his position in the current front ranks of filmmakers.” – Dan Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“What we have here is a bait-and-switch: a man who wants to criticize a particular mode of American thinking while pitching his movie at a tenor that will allow him to make money off the exact audience he’s trying to undercut. I don’t buy into that.” – Jake Mulligan, Letterboxd

“Sometimes when watching a movie that’s particularly emotionally distressing, one has to ask, ‘Just how much harrowing adversity can we watch these characters go through? What’s the endgame here?'”- Dave Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

“The kind of movie that makes the Fall prestige season not only tolerable, but worth looking forward to.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist

“The whole thing devolves into a military procedural that looks like ZERO DARK THIRTY’S unused b-roll.” – Kristofer Jenson, DIG Boston

 

MACHETEMACHETE KILLS

“The picture is repetitive to an almost Bunuellian extent.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE

“The first movie felt like activism, this one feels like a regular action movie with a message. Just as much fun, not as much impact.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist

 

ROMEO & JULIETROMEOJULIET

“Aims for passion, but tumbles into corn… or rather, corn syrup.” – Kilian Melloy, EDGE

“It lumbers along in search of a reason to exist.” – Sean Burns, Metro

 

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROWESCAPE FROM TOMORROW

“Somehow, having Buzz Lightyear around just makes things even darker. The production itself was full-scale corporate espionage.” – Kristofer Jenson, DIG Boston

“An outrageous provocation with a renegade spirit that reminds you what a festival like Sundance is supposed to be about.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

“But like a roller coaster, a queasily rollicking and dizzyingly loopy climax — involving a kidnapped princess, a mind-reading robot, and a mysterious flu — ultimately makes the long wait worthwhile.” – Inkoo Kang, LA Times

 

A.C.O.D. (ADULT CHILDREN OF DIVORCE) A.C.O.D. (2013) trailer -- Pictured: Adam Scott (Screengrab)

“Zicherman has spent most of his career writing and producing; A.C.O.D. represents his first directing credit, and while he this attempt shouldn’t be his last, he could stand to do a little homework before his next foray into feature filmmaking.” – Andrew Crump, GoSeeTalk

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP 10/4

gravityGRAVITY

“GRAVITY is the place to start loving, once again, both the spectacle and the chance for intelligent filmmaking.”-Kilian Melloy, Kal’s Movie Blog

“Few films manage to be this transporting, this thoughtful, this stunningly beautiful, and this flat-out daring all at the same time…”-Andrew Crump, Go-See-Talk

“The movie impresses us with the vastness and cold emptiness of space as few films have since 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.”- Daniel Kimmel, Northshore Movies

“GRAVITY is a pretty shrewd customer. It gives astronauts Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Kowalsky (George Clooney) disaster after disaster, and each one is worse than the disaster that came before it.”- David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

“Cuaron has fashioned a transcendent cinematic fable, leading us through a universe of pain, fear, wonder, sorrow, elation, and serendipity, all of it redeemed by gravity– and the pull of life.”- Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

parklandPARKLAND

“At some point, it becomes prudent to wonder why Landesman didn’t just settle on telling a single yarn.”-Andrew Crump, Go-See-Talk

BOFCA REPERTORY PODCAST #5

chainsaw

Trick or Treat! Steve Head, Monica Castillo, David Riedel, and Bob Chipman get excited for Boston’s Halloween film specials. First up, the Coolidge Corner Theatre dedicates their midnight movie times to haunted houses and witches (with much disagreement over THE AMITYVILLE HORROR) and the first two films of their 12-hour horror movie marathon on Oct. 26. Then the group visits the Brattle Theatre for their Humphrey Bogart series and  Silent Screams selections. Lastly, the group ends with a look at The Somerville Theatre’s Terror-Thon, which will kick off with a 12-hour movie marathon on Oct. 12.

Listen to the whole podcast HERE