You’ve probably seen the abusive parent film before. You’ve also probably seen the inner city inspirational teacher film before too. There are certain conventions of postmodern dramas that keep cycling back, the previous two among them. In fact, you’ve likely seen both of these tropes in the same film. But you haven’t seen Precious (2009). Precious is something else. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is a difficult film to sit through. Probably the most difficult I’ve seen since Million Dollar Baby (2004). It follows Clareece “Precious” Jones, an illiterate Harlem teen pregnant with her second child. At the suggestion of her principal, she enrolls in an alternative school that helps students get their GEDs, but this alone is not the solution to all her problems as she hoped it might be. Continue reading...

Paranormal Activity (2009) has been slaughtering--pardon the verb--the box office lately! Granted, This Is It (2009) won last weekend, but that’s not being reviewed because that’s not a real film. According to Box Office Mojo, Paranormal Activity, which only cost $15,000 to make, has raked in upwards of $80M domestically--a big win for Paramount. I’ve already made my opinion of the film clear, but regardless, that’s the horror film Halloweeners chose to see this weekend...which is unfortunate, but this is the film they should have seen. Continue reading...

Paranormal Activity (2009) is like a 1 1/2 hour YouTube video. Not to say there will be sneezing pandas or overtly intrigued chipmunks, but rather that you can’t expect high production values. The exposure sucks, the acting is nonexistent (to the film’s credit), and there seems to be little, if any, editorial hand at work here. But instead of being to the film’s detriment, these YouTube-esque qualities create quite a set up. The audience’s guard is down. They’re completely open to the utter worst of scares. If director Oren Peli had just pushed a little harder, this could have been the most frightening film of all time. Continue reading...

Step aside, sex slave trafficking. There’s a new breed of for-profit youth exploitation to hit the scene and it’s perfectly legal! That’s right: child-driven publicity stunts! Traditionally, when people think of publicity stunts, they think of celebrities—Britney Spears’ infamous one-day marriage or Paris Hilton’s sex tape, for example. Only today, however, are non-celebrities rocketing their way to stardom via the technique. You need only watch one episode of Toddlers in Tiaras to know what I mean. Enter the Exploitation of Offspring and their Parental Pimps. Continue reading...

Before you read this review, I want you to watch this trailer. I've been pretty hard on a lot of film ad campaigns this year, because a lot of them have misrepresented their films so poorly, it's been impossible to ignore. So, for the first time, I'd like to applaud one for getting it right. This trailer is a symphony of sounds and feelings, frustrations and cacophonies that echo the frustrations and cacophonies of the film. A Serious Man (2009) is an utter symphony of tragedy, and this ad got it just right. Continue reading...

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) is very loosely based off of a Tucker Max book of the same name. The book is a compilation of short, unapologetic "autobiographical" stories about the author's insane sexual exploits in graphic detail. They're crude. They're misogynistic. And they're hilarious. The film is not. Well actually, the film is the first two. It's just one of those concepts that works in literature and absolutely doesn't in cinema. Allow me to explain: The film I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell makes its first mistake by even attempting to tell a story. Were it a string of short vignette's about Tucker Max (Matt Czuchry), it might might work. But it's not. Instead, it's about Max as he takes his buddies Dan (Geoff Stults) and Drew (Jesse Bradford) up to Salem for Dan's bachelor party, as--of course--Max needs to find a strip club without a "no touch" policy. And they do. Continue reading...

Unless you detest everything on TV or are an angry Republican who refuses to watch The Daily Show, you know who Aasif Mandvi is. He’s the token correspondent that generally covers stories dealing with India (where he was born) or the Middle East. In a recent episode, he yelled at Jon Stewart for not referring to him on the story dealing with the famous Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan: “I’m your Indian guy!... How could you not have called me on this?!” He’s been referred to as the “Senior Foreign Looking Correspondent” when reporting a story, although his official title changes often. While most of us know him in this role, he has actually done a lot outside of that comedic sphere. Continue reading...

If you are interested in Spanish culture and music or want to learn more about it while helping a good cause come to “Spanish Music and Culture Fighting against Cancer” at Bovard Auditorium on Saturday, May 3rd at 6:30pm for the free concert. Continue reading...

Despite production largely being restricted by oppressive governments and unstable filming conditions, a new movement appears to be gaining momentum in the Middle East. “There are plenty of up-and-coming filmmakers [in Palestine], but it feels as if they are noteworthy because they are Palestinian, [which] is controversial,” explains Amanda Georges, a junior double majoring in critical studies and print journalism. Films like Persepolis and Paradise Now—both recently screened at USC—are Iran and Palestine’s answer to Hollywoodian stereotypes of the region. In the midst of violence, Lebanon and Iran have a blossoming art scene: the underground art movement appears to be keeping Middle Eastern films alive. Continue reading...

The year 2009 has seen a pattern of action movies producing returns that fall far short of their oversized production budgets. At least, it appeared that way until Monday, April 6th changed everything. Fast & Furious (2009) the fourth film in the “The Fast and the Furious” series, rounded out its opening weekend with a gross of $72.5M—the biggest opening of 2009 thus far, the biggest April opening of all time, the biggest in the franchise thus far, and the biggest opening for Universal of all time, says Entertainment Weekly. According to the $800M production budget reported by USA Today it looks like it will actually turn a profit! Continue reading...

Contrary to my thoughts going in, Observe and Report (2009) has absolutely zero involvement from super-producer/director/writer Judd Apatow, though it has the feeling of an “Apatow” film. And as much fun as these films were at first (I could watch The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) on repeat for week), the jokes are getting old and the main players are getting older. Continue reading...