Sacha Baron Cohen, finding his face too familiar now (even in disguise) for the hijinks of movies such as Borat and Bruno, assembles a ragtag narrative, pilfered from the headlines of international news. He plays …
May 16, 2012
Articles by John Rubio
Sacha Baron Cohen, Past Borat, Past Bruno
First Position: Some Humanity, Not Hoop Dreams
Filmmakers follow the lives of several aspiring ballet dancers from around the globe (ages 9 to 19) as they train for the Youth America Grand Prix, a prestigious dance competition in New York City that …
May 16, 2012
We Have a Pope: A “What If” Meditation on the Passing of the Papal Torch
Director and co-writer Nanni Moretti presents us with a “what if” meditation on the passing of the papal torch. Following the death of the old Pope, the conclave of Cardinals elects Father Melville (played with …
May 16, 2012
Reviewed: 21 Jump Street, John Carter, Let the Bullets Fly
The problem is not that “they don’t make them like they used to.” The problem is that they continue to make them about what they used to, and they continue to make them the way …
March 14, 2012
The Conquest, Beneath the Darkness, Tomboy: Reviewed
Director Xavier Durringer imagines the political ascent of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. There is a touch of vulgar whimsy in the way the politicians phrase their frustration: “First the press licks you, then tricks you, …
January 11, 2012
Movie Review: The Rum Diary, Hell and Back Again, Habana Eva
Photographed in a dry, dingy beige, the film looks like it were being viewed through a discarded snakeskin. This is not altogether a fault; the anemic film stock suits the sultry drip of setting and …
November 2, 2011
Reviews: Warrior, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, Brighton Rock
The sport of mixed martial arts battles for legitimacy, being perceived somewhere between a barbaric form of pugilism and a glorified WWF match. Likewise, MMA movies have had to forge a meager existence as genre …
September 7, 2011
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts: Larry Crowne
Tom Hanks cowrote, directed, and stars in this novel pleasantry about a 50-something, all-too-amiable employee of the month. He works at a Walmart-style retailer called UMart (their slogan is “I Love U”). Hanks’s title character …
July 6, 2011
Everything Must Go, Bridesmaids, and Hesher
Everything Must Go As authors go, Raymond Carver is not a golden boy of Hollywood — more a precious gem popping up here and there in the work of directors with a particular itch to …
May 11, 2011