Mad Men (2015) – Season 7 “The Milk and Honey Route”

In the ending of Douglas Sirk’s 1959 masterpiece Imitation of Life, the character Annie Johnson uses her entire life savings for her grandiose funeral. Although Annie has endured many ordeals as an African-American woman, and wears the shroud of a typical mammy stereotype, her funeral is in many ways her only and final attempt at exercising […]

Ex Machina (2015) – Alex Garland

WARNING: The following pseudo-review consists of almost equal parts review of the film and discussion of some of the film’s key themes/ideas. The fact that I felt compelled to write so much beyond the scope of a typical review should suggest that Ex Machina is pretty sick. I’m kind of a sucker for movies about […]

Mad Men (2015) – Season 7 “Lost Horizon”

With all the theories out there about how Matthew Weiner’s going to end the series, from Don jumping off a building like in the opening credits to Don actually being the notorious D.B. Cooper, little did we know that Weiner has already been planting seeds about Don’s fate since the first season. After Don spurns […]

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – Joss Whedon

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a much bigger and more convoluted mess than the first Avengers movie. Yet, I still preferred the sequel because it wasn’t saccharine and safe like the first movie. Avengers lacked flair and, quite honestly, it just wasn’t very cinematic. Joss Whedon’s style, which developed in television, didn’t seem right for the silver screen […]

Mad Men (2015) – Season 7 “Time & Life”

It isn’t serendipitous that Jared Harris directed “Time & Life,” the latest episode of Mad Men. As you may already know, Harris played Lane Pryce from Season 3 to Season 5, the warm charismatic foreigner who falls in love with New York City and ultimately commits suicide. The moment Pryce finally entered into Mad Men’s family (as […]

While We’re Young (2015) – Noah Baumbach

The two Noah Baumbach films I’ve seen didn’t inspire much interest in While We’re Young for me. I can remember virtually nothing of Greenberg and I vividly remember strongly disliking Frances Ha. But I also figured it could be something to do with Greta Gerwig. Knowing that she wasn’t in While We’re Young and seeing […]

Mad Men (2015) – Season 7 “The Forecast”

Warning: The following review contains spoilers! In last week’s unfairly lambasted episode of Mad Men “New Business”, Don settled his divorce with Megan by writing her a check for a million dollars. He’s no stranger to solving problems with a check and a ballpoint pen but this time felt different. After Megan shrewdly tells him […]

It Follows (2015) – David Robert Mitchell

Full Disclosure: I know and have worked on set with Michael Gioulakis, the film’s Director of Photography. But like Roger Ebert, I’m confident that I’ll have no problem giving my unbiased impressions of the film. Also, I won’t pretend to be a horror movie buff, so feel free to take these impressions with an additional […]

Mad Men (2015) – Season 7 “Severance”

Warning: The following review contains spoilers! The second half of the final season of Mad Men has been billed as “The End of an Era.” The show’s eight year run and the end of the 1960s certainly feels like the times (they) are a-changin’. Throughout the first half of season seven, Don Draper was knocked […]

Furious 7 (2015) – James Wan

I remember how stunned I was when I first heard of Paul Walker’s passing. Later that night, I remember walking into a store and seeing ads for Furious 6’s Blu-ray release and just freezing and staring at Walker’s face. I’m somewhat surprised by how much his death affected me. He’d never been a particularly gifted […]