Controversy
isn’t exactly a new phenomenon when it comes to biblical movies, and it often turns out that the most controversial films often are the best. A fine example is Martin
Scorsese’s terrific The Last Temptation
of Christ, which was violently smeared by Christians when it was released
back in 1988. Unfortunately, such protests suggest that these crowds like
their Bible-based movies to be entirely faithful and uncritical of the stories
and characters they depict. This may make for fine group experiences, but
from a cinematic perspective they aren't particularly interesting. The Last Temptation of Christ instead
was a film that took the story of Jesus as seriously as humanly possible;
spending every second exploring the struggles and temptations that would come
along with being the Messiah. The ending of the film is actually profoundly
spiritual, but too many were blinded by the occasionally “controversial”
material that preceded it.
CinemaSlants
Reviews and opinion on the world of film.
I HAVE MOVED
Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for reading CinemaSlants these few years. I have moved my writing over to a new blog: The Screen Addict. You can find it here: http://thescreenaddict.com/.
I hope you follow me to my new location! You can find an explanation for the move on that site now or on the CinemaSlants Facebook page.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
The Only Oscar Preview That Matters: I'm Still Here Edition
By:
Matt Kraus
I’d like to
begin by thanking you all for your patience over the course of the last couple
weeks. Preparing for this move has obviously taken up a lot of my
time, but now that I have a little bit of free time I’ve decided that I’d whip
out my usual list of Oscar predictions for the ceremony tomorrow. Of course,
you should know to never listen to my predictions in a normal year, but this
year could be really special in that all my travel/new job-related stuff has
forced me to pay almost zero attention
to all the usual pre-Oscar chatter. Normally by now I have a pretty good idea
of who is going to win the major categories. This year, I’m a bit lost in the
woods. So obviously you should keep reading! (Note to self: this may not have
been the best way to sell this post.)
Anyway, now it
is time to get down to the business at hand: beginning the fourth annual Only
Oscar Preview That Matters. Whatever you do, don’t listen to me.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
A Life Announcement of Some Import
By:
Matt Kraus
So, a good thing happened. Earlier today I accepted an offer to become an editorial assistant at Electrical Contractor Magazine in Bethesda, Maryland. As you might imagine, this means I'm going to spend the next few weeks devoting a lot of my time to the moving process and all the usual nonsense that goes into such a transition. What does this mean for the blog? Unfortunately, it's probably going to be slow going for a little while longer. I fully intend to keep writing, so don't expect this site to go completely dead.
Also, if you haven't heard, I'm doing some freelance work these days for the Barnes & Noble Book Blog. I plan on still doing that as long as they let me, and perhaps that will lead to even more freelance writing down the line. We shall see.
That's all there really is to know right now. Thank you all again for reading despite the lack of updates recently. It's probably going to stay that way for a little bit, but now that things are going in the right direction I plan on starting to work it back into my regular schedule.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Winter's Tale (2014)
By:
Matt Kraus
People who write
about movies throw around the word “miscalculation” a lot, but rare is the film
that truly earns that description right from the title card all the way to the end
credits. Winter’s Tale, an adaptation
of Mark Helprin’s 1983 novel written and directed by Akiva Goldsman, is one
such movie. I have some idea of what this film was trying to be, and it clearly
wants to say really powerful things about “love” and “the universe,” but it falls
absolutely flat at every turn. A work of magical realism that has no idea how
to properly integrate the magic and the realism, Winter’s Tale doesn’t stir the soul as much as it incites
unintentional laughter. This was always going to be a difficult movie to do
right, but Goldsman’s version gets just about everything wrong.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
RoboCop (2014)
By:
Matt Kraus
Even in the best
of circumstances, a PG-13 remake of Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi classic RoboCop is, to put it lightly, a
horrible idea. All things considered, the circumstances surrounding José
Padilha’s new take on the character aren’t all that bad. This is a film with a
fantastic supporting cast that includes Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Samuel L.
Jackson and more, and it has a script from Joshua Zetumer that actually
attempts to tackle interesting ideas about living in the drone age. At the very
least, this new film makes a fine argument for RoboCop’s relevance in the 21st century, but Zetumer and Padilha
are ultimately trapped by the expectations of making a mainstream action film.
It’s not a bad mainstream action film by any means, but it’s hard to look past
the unrealized potential.
Friday, January 10, 2014
The Best Films of 2013
By:
Matt Kraus
As much fun as
it is to make my annual lists of worsts and rejects,
it pales in comparison to the wonderful ordeal that is coming up with my annual
selections for the best films of the year. After all, good
movies are a whole lot more fun to watch than bad movies, and as such writing about good
movies winds up being a whole lot more rewarding. (Usually. There are exceptions, of
course.) This year, making this list was particularly thrilling, and
particularly difficult. As I mentioned the other day, this was my first
list-making year where I had considerable trouble choosing a number one.
Normally that is one of the first things I’m able to come up with. That only
speaks to how many great films came out this year, and now I’m excited to share
my picks for the best cinema had to offer in 2013. Let's do it.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
The Worst Films of 2013
By:
Matt Kraus
After a rough start, 2013
turned into a terrific year for movies. My top ten list will go up around
Friday, and it probably will not be finalized until seconds before it posts.
Normally by this point I've decided on a rock solid number one, but this year I'll probably end up flipping a coin to decide between three fantastic choices. My life is hard, guys. Much less
stressful has been creating my annual list of the worst films of the year, and
I have five fine selections here to show you just how bad things get even in
the best of years. Also, after there was no recipient last year, 2013 sees the
return of the Last Airbender Memorial
Award for Special Achievement in Terribleness. That will come at the end. First,
here are my picks for the five worst movies to be released in the last 12 months. Enjoy, and avoid them at all costs.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Lone Survivor (2013)
By:
Matt Kraus
At the start of
Ben Stiller’s terrific 2008 comedy Tropic
Thunder, there is a lengthy sequence depicting the exact type of
over-the-top war movie its characters are seeking to create. There is copious
gore, the dialogue consists only of the usual military clichés shouted at top
volume, and those who die happen to perish in the most cinematic and grandiose
way possible. All of this, of course, was meant to poke fun at what most war
films have become in the post-Saving
Private Ryan era, and while watching Peter Berg’s Afghan War film Lone Survivor I found myself constantly
thinking that this the exact type of movie Stiller was mocking. Berg has made a thundering, intense, flag-waving
war film that is never boring but also frustratingly strains to create “big” moments.
The genre doesn’t get much more emphatic than this, but it does
get a whole lot better.
Monday, January 6, 2014
The Rejects of 2013
By:
Matt Kraus
Ever since I started this
blog, I have ended each year with the usual lists featuring the best and worst movies to
come out in the previous 12 months. However, I have also decided to end each
year with a list of what I call “rejects.” In many ways, these posts act as an In Memoriam
to the films that were ignored by audiences and critics alike in the preceding
year. Every year has its fair share of failures, but the bloodshed came early
and often in 2013, with a couple high-profile flops and several mid-level films
that just never caught on. This year is a bit low on hidden gems, but it’s
always interesting to look back at all the films that just didn’t work.
My aforementioned posts featuring the bests and the worsts will
come later in the week. Also, let me know if there are any rejects you think I
forgot. Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
By:
Matt Kraus
I will try to write longer about this film at a later date. This short review will do for now.
Martin Scorsese
and Leonardo DiCaprio have collaborated numerous times in the past decade, but
never have they come up with a more memorable creation than this fictional version of Jordan Belfort, the
ostensible “protagonist” of the new film The
Wolf of Wall Street. Belfort is the founder of Stratton Oakmont, a firm
that deals mostly in penny stocks. Ever since he opened his firm out of the
garage, Belfort has had one goal: take as much money from his clients as possible. His
business is instantly successful, and over the course of several years he
becomes something of an icon in his field. There is nothing honorable about
what he does for a living, and even less is honorable about what he does in his
off time. His is a life of partying, booze, drugs and prostitutes, and with The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese has
made a hilarious, scathing film that isn’t about Belfort so much as it’s about
a society that allows him to not only exist, but thrive. There will inevitably be much talk about
whether the film presents Belfort as an aspirational figure, but in my eyes
that’s missing the point. The Wolf of
Wall Street is a film about
Belfort being an aspirational figure, and over the course of three extravagant
hours Scorsese viciously explores this demented version of the American dream.
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