For almost a decade, Detroit-born, Chicago-based film maker Joe Swanberg has been one of the leading figures in the micro-budget, naturalistic “mumblecore” film “movement.” (Though Swanberg and everyone else working in that loose sub-genre–including the Duplass Brothers, Lynn Sheldon, Andrew Bujalski, and Lena Dunham–have always been loathe to embrace the label “mumblecore” or even the [...]

I was worried that Kick-Ass 2 might come somewhere close to the subversive fun, aesthetic coolness, and philosophically deranged comic-book glee of the first Kick-Ass movie in 2010. You see, all this year I’ve been struggling with gun violence in new mainstream cinema and my attitude toward it. I’m not going to get into all [...]

The first Steve Jobs biopic, Jobs, stars a terrific Ashton Kutcher as the late, mercurial, sometimes unknowable Apple Computer co-founder and visionary genius. Directed by Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote), the film co-stars Josh Gad (The Book of Mormon, Love and Other Drugs, 1600 Penn) as Jobs’ one-time partner Steve “Woz” Wozniak. The film follows [...]

Actress Lake Bell’s career in film and television has followed a familiar “outsider” arc. Some may recognize her from various “that girl” character-actor roles, often as the quirky-sexy “best friend” in rom-coms like What Happens in Vegas, It’s Complicated, and No Strings Attached, or from TV shows like Boston Practice and Boston Legal. Meanwhile, fans [...]

In recent years, writer-director David Gordon Green’s become known for big, profane, anarchic and silly R-rated comedies like Pineapple Express (2008), The Sitter (2011), and Your Highness (2011), starring folks like Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, and Jonah Hill. But amid all the pot jokes and groin punches, it’s easy to forget that prior [...]

Us older sci-fi fans are always bitchin’ and moanin’ about how no one makes science fiction movies about ideas anymore. How it’s all just special effects and big stars and non-stop action. Which is why fan-boys and –girls of a certain age got very excited (probably too excited) about South African writer-director Neill Blomkamp’s debut [...]