Most films that tackle something somewhat scientific take on scientific advisors to make sure they get things right. It’s often a job reserved for prestigious scientists: Carolyn Porco, for instance, who runs the JPL lab, was the advisor for J.J. Abraams’s first “Star Trek” film. Given the absence of good science in most movies, including that one, I can only assume that filmmakers don’t listen too much to their scientific advisors. On the other hand, we rarely see characters who act and talk like scientists – David Auburn’s “Proof”, about mathematicians, is one of the rare exceptions – in part, I would guess, because most filmmakers don’t start out by getting a STEM degree, like Shane Carruth (“Primer”) did.
In Boyhood, a family grows up in real time
Shot over the course of 12 years, Boyhood continues Richard Linklater’s experiments with cinematic time and follows the maturation of a family in real time.
Review of ‘Siddharth’: a young boy goes missing in India
The twelve-year-old title character in “Siddharth” is only on-screen for a couple of seconds at the beginning of the film as his bus pulls away and he waves furiously goodbye to his father, Mahendra (Rajesh Tailang). We barely get a good look at him; much of their dialogue plays out on a black screen before […]
Review of Into The Woods at the SF Playhouse: the company outgrew its old home but hasn’t quite grown into its new one
After almost a decade of selling out shows in their very intimate hole-in-the-wall theatre on Sutter Street, the San Francisco Playhouse (SF Playhouse) moved to bigger and better digs on Post St two years ago. It’s allowed them to expand their audience and scope of production, but they’re also going through some growing pains. When […]
Henry IV Part 1 and 2 at the RSC perfectly captures Prince Hal’s coming-of-age
Taking a page out of the National Theatre Live’s playbook, the Royal Shakespeare Company has finally started broadcasting their productions to cinemas around the world, and then, unlike NTLive, making them available on DVD. Following the broadcast of Gregory Doran’s Richard II, the RSC has just broadcasted Doran’s productions of the next two Henriad plays. […]
Life Itself: After a life at the movies, Roger Ebert lives on in the movie of his life
I grew up watching “Siskel and Ebert and The Movies.” It was a weekly ritual in my house, helping us decide what to see that weekend. The show struck something deep, and inspired me to start writing film reviews at a very young age: I was in grade 6 and I started my own magazine. It was through their television show that Siskel and Ebert became the world’s most powerful and influential film critics.