All articles by Patrick Z McGavin
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ReviewsWorld's Greatest Dad
Dir/scr: Bobcat Goldthwait. US. 2009. 98 mins.An Oedipal tale about a man who earns personal satisfaction at the expense of his spectacularly mediocre son, Bobcat Goldthwait’s outrageously-entertaining World’s Greatest Dad is the most fully-sustained and effective of the standup comedian’s three feature films. It sharply merges the director’s toxic and ...
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ReviewsShrink
Dir: Jonas Pate. US. 2009. 105mins.A splintered look at the Hollywood dream factory through the perspective of Kevin Spacey’s quickly-unraveling Los Angeles therapist, Jonas Pate’s Shrink is more forgiving and humanistic than acid-tongued, more Entourage than The Player.Thomas Moffett’s script deals with familiar material - social ...
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ReviewsTaking Chance
Dir: Ross Katz. US. 2009. 80mins.A heartfelt and sorrowful memorial to the war dead of Iraq marked by a typically restrained and concentrated performance by Kevin Bacon, Ross Katz’s Taking Chance is a quietly observational study of memory and loss. The fact-based story of a career ...
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Reviews
The Human Contract
Dir/Scr: Jada Pinkett Smith. US. 2008. 106minsA seriously-intended dramatic study of erotic obsession, jealousy and violence, Jada Pinkett Smith's debut feature The Human Contract is a messy and frequently furious entwining of the sacred and the profane. Despite some entertaining stretches and compensatory observations about contemporary Los Angeles, the work ...
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News
In Focus: Criterion puts classics on Blu-ray
The first time Joseph Cotton's war correspondent Holly Martins discovers his presumed dead friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), in postwar Vienna, the moment packs a powerful punch.'Wait until you see the sequence in pristine high-definition video,' says Peter Becker.Carol Reed's 1949 classic The Third Man is one of five titles ...
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News
Profile: Music Box Films
At the end of summer 2007, William Schopf, Ed Arentz and Brian Andreotti had a drink in the bar of a dazzling Chicago Loop skyscraper for a low-key launch of their new distribution concern.In the film business, timing is everything - and their timing seemed fairly perverse, pouring start-up money ...
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ReviewsOne Week
Dir/Scr: Michael McGowan. Canada. 2008. 94mins.Canadian filmmaker Michael McGowan’s second feature after Saint Ralph, One Week marks another dispiriting example of a director using sickness and physical deterioration in rationalising dishonest and narcissistic behaviour.Coming on the heels of Amy Redford’s Sundance entry The Guitar, One Week ...
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ReviewsThe Secret Of Moonacre
Dir: Gabor Csupo. UK. 2008. 103mins.Gabor Csupo’schildren’s fantasyabout a plucky and resourceful 13-year-old girl on a magical quest to thwart an encroaching disaster is undermined by a sluggish blend of humour, disengaged characters and a stagnant narrative line. The script - adapted from Elizabeth Goudge’s The ...
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Reviews
Nothing But the Truth
Director: Rod Lurie. US. 2008. 107mins.A dramatic fictionalization thatconflates the political scandal of former covert intelligence officerValerie Plame and controversial journalist Judith Miller, Rod Lurie's Nothing But the Truthis a miscalculated piece damaged by poor direction, mediocre writingand performances that feel consistently misguided and off-key. Lurie (The Contender) is acontemporary ...
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ReviewsNick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Dir. Peter Sollett. US. 2008. 89mins.The highly anticipated second feature of the New York-based independent Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas) valiantly attempts to both enliven and subvert the tendencies and predictability of the teenage romantic comedy - although the whole never quite registers as forcefully as ...
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ReviewsDean Spanley (2008)
Dir. Toa Fraser. New Zealand/UK. 2008. 99mins.New Zealand director Toa Fraser’s Dean Spanley overcomes an uncertain and sketchy opening section to register as a moving and visually wondrous evocation of magic and imagination. The movie’s tonal shifts are fairly abrupt and the first third is frustratingly ...
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News
Journey to the Third Dimension
In 1953, studio chief Jack Warner implored Alfred Hitchcock to work in the new format of 3D for his film Dial M For Murder. Hollywood had just introduced the colour stereoscopic photographic technology to fend off the pervasive reach of television. But by the time of the release, the 3D ...
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Features
New Projects - Strength in depth
AvatarUS dist: Twentieth Century FoxUS release date: December 18, 2009James Cameron's first narrative theatrical feature since Titanic stars Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Sam Worthington and Giovanni Ribisi in a story about the conflicts between humans and the inhabitants of a distant planet.Cameron shot Avatar on the new 3D Fusion System ...
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Features
The lowdown - How does 3D work'
The 3D projection formats introduced in the 1950s were cumbersome, labour-intensive and required two cameras projecting onto the same screen, making synchronisation difficult. Today, there are three far more sophisticated 3D digital projection technologies in the theatrical market: RealD, Dolby Digital Cinema and Imax 3D.All of them exploit the way ...
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Features
United States - A one-shot deal
On a sombre late March morning in Chicago before dawn breaks, it is day four of shooting on Helix, the first feature from the Beverly Hills-based production company Windward Entertainment.The story, about the kidnap of a young woman (played by Alexa Vega), is drawn from an actual incident involving Aram ...