The Measure of a Man (2016; Stéphane Brizé) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes Impotent resistance versus soul-sucking compliance in the bloody coliseum of capitalism. Human dignity loses either way. Vincent Lindon won the Best Actor prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for his work here as Thierry, […]
Mountains May Depart (2016; Jia Zhangke) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes An alternately rapturous and ponderous story of Chinese tradition resisting the eraser of progress, Mountains May Depart stars Zhangke muse (and wife) Tao Zhao as Tao, a small-town girl whose flirtation with a “true capitalist” and rejection […]
When you add up my weekly reviews in the Sacramento News & Review, my work here at E Street Film Society, and my contributions to other print and online publications, I penned over 250 published movie reviews in 2015. At an average of 300 words a pop, that’s […]
By Daniel Barnes All hail, Awards Season! Tyrant of all she surveys! Oppressor of cinephiles! Scourge of the pudgy and bespectacled! Obvious Ben Whishaw fan! Long may her tastefully bland mediocrities inexplicably occupy our otherwise intelligent thoughts! SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29 Victor Frankenstein (Dir.: Paul McGuigan; GRADE: C+) Not […]
BEST ACTOR Christopher Abbott, James White Samuel L. Jackson, The Hateful Eight Tom Courtenay, 45 Years Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road Jesse Eisenberg, The End of the Tour BEST ACTRESS Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years Greta Gerwig, Mistress America Juliette Binoche, Clouds of Sils Maria Cate Blanchett, Carol […]
By Daniel Barnes More coffee-fueled palaver about meaningless awards and reductive categorizations? No problemo! WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 Love & Mercy ***REWATCH*** (Dir.: Bill Pohlad; GRADE: B+) The only real change from my initial assessment of this Brian Wilson biopic is that I severely underrated Paul Giamatti’s performance, probably […]
