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No Concessions: Tops, Flops, Oscars, Razzies
From Avatar to the Transformers sequel, from Up in the Air to the depths of Obsessed, a look back at the highs and lows of 2009 as awards season takes shape
Read More »No Concessions: Why I “Heart” Jeff Bridges
If the Oscars are truly serious about slimming down the Academy should just mail Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique their supporting performer awards. Or hand them over at next Tuesday’s nominations ceremony and not even
Read More »No Concessions: Plummer Plays “Parnassus,” Then Arrives at “The Last Station”
Over the holidays I read Robert Sellers’ Hellraisers, whose subtitle, “The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, and Oliver Reed” pretty much tells you what to expect. Making a
Read More »No Concessions: Michael Cera Is a “Youth in Revolt”
Time waits for no critic. I still have to see, much less review, end-of-the-aughts releases like Up in the Air and The Lovely Bones and Nine but here it is Jan. 8 and I
Read More »No Concessions: “Sherlock Holmes” and “Avatar,” Two Big Christmas Packages
In a recessionary year most of the holiday releases have slimmed-down grab bag budgets, but two come in outsized, wrapped-and-ribboned boxes. Sherlock Holmes would seem to be destined for Dad, or even Grandma, as
Read More »No Concessions: “A Single Man,” and the Singular Orson Welles
The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man is in theaters. Michael Douglas is starring in Solitary Man, coming soon. Opening today is A Single Man, with Colin Firth as a serious, solitary man—with a death
Read More »No Concessions: Happy Goddamn Thanksgiving — “Precious,” “The Road,” and More Feel-Bad Holiday Movies
Thanksgiving: For some, that time of the year to reconnect with friends and family, to eat plenty of turkey and trimmings, and figure out what to gift Aunt Ida with this Christmas. For filmgoers,
Read More »No Concessions: George Clooney Stares at “Goats”
Critics have split over The Men Who Stare at Goats -- some find it an amusing military satire, while others reject it as unfunny mush. Which side is Bob Cashill on
Read More »No Concessions: “Antichrist,” A Hell of a Movie
One of my favorite moviegoing experiences occurred when I lived in San Jose, CA, and decided one weeknight to see Lars von Trier’s Zentropa (1991). The Danish filmmaker and provocateur was pretty much unknown
Read More »No Concessions: Spike Jonze’s “Wild Things”
At long last, Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are arrives in theaters this weekend. Did Bob Cashill have a wild rumpus at his screening, or did he send Jonze to bed
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