Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is definitely a film of it's time showcasing the free love movement. From my estimation it skew towards the satirical with the intent that free love is supposed to make the individual more natural, open and honest but really has the opposite effect causing the unit between two people to become fractured and hide what is their true feelings. It really highlights those ideals being crashing against the reality of human behavior. While it is an…

Marvel has shown that they have a good idea what they want to do with their films post Avengers which is to adhere to that same template of using what makes their superhero comics so appealing, telling a stories of larger than life heroes. Within that story they put a strong emphasis on character and their relationships to go along with an elaborate, if hastily conceived plot, to go along with big action scenes. Iron Man 3 does all of…

I was very lucky to catch The Master in a special screening in 70mm in Chicago, and I must say it did not disappoint. From the technical aspects to the writing to the performances, no other contemporary director is more skilled than Paul Thomas Anderson at weaving all of these into the rich fabric of cinema and he proves that once again in The Master. It is tough to really give justice to what the film is about with a…

Material like War Horse plays towards Steven Spielberg's worst tendencies towards sentimentality. There is no doubting the man has talent, but he does have problems reigning in the sentimentality and War Horse is seeped in it. The film cycles through tragic realism and allegorical tale at will, whatever one best suits tugging on the heart strings. Every moment was a manufactured melodramatic struggle for something to to point where it ends up being exhausting. Strangely though, the part where he…