Woody Allen and Cate Blanchett Construct a Perfect Breakdown
Cate Blanchett is genius at demonstrating a veneer of icy sophistication slowly cracking. You can see glimpses in her eyes, her jittery jaw, her wringing hands, in the birdlike suspension of shaky limbs held akimbo. In Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen's latest film, her character Jasmine is a woman in the midst of a nervous…
The Week in Movies: Only God Forgives The Conjuring and Turbo
Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix. Guess what? The heat wave has ostensibly made movie reviews…
Andrew Bujalski's New Movie About Chess is Not Just For Nerds
Andrew Bujalski's new movie takes place in the early 1980s, set at an annual convention in which programmers are working to develop a computer chess program that could win over a human chess master—an early battle of artificial intelligence versus the human spirit. Regardless of your interest in chess, computer or…
"Rooting for this man in 2013 is like rooting for Pfizer. Or PepsiCo. Or PRISM." Chris Richards' review of Jay-Z's new album is ferociously accurate.
The Week in Movies: Despicable Lone Ranger Goes Way Way Back
Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix. Guess what? It's July 4th weekend and studios want to …
Detroit, Punk, and A Band Called Death
Mark Covino and Jeff Howlett's documentary, out on Friday, is simply titled A Band Called Death. It provides a thorough biography of an under-appreciated protopunk garage band that existed on the cusp of punk. They were called Death, obviously. The Detroit band, founded in 1971 by three brothers—David Hackney…
Backtracking: 20 Feet From Stardom's Look At Backup Singers
20 Feet From Stardom, from music documentary veteran Morgan Neville, is a film entirely devoted to the overlooked lives and jobs of back-up singers. Everything from the sound and vision to the impeccably selected archive footage to the beautifully shot recording sessions is wonderful. Neville isolates the tracks on…
The East Could Be this Summer's Sleeper Hit
The nefarious corporations in the politically charged cult thriller The East are named McCabe-Grey, Hawkstone, and Hiller Brood, respectively. These monikers, laden with symbolism, are heavy-handed and so overtly dubious they give off an almost James Bond villain appeal. With such unambiguously diabolical enemies,…
Prince Avalanche's Joyous Destruction of Paul Rudd
In New York magazine's review of Admission, David Edelstein says of Paul Rudd, "Everybody doesn't like somebody, but nobody doesn't like Paul Rudd." In Prince Avalanche, Rudd attempts to cast off his universal affability. Rudd's Alvin is characterized by dismissive, elitist, self-conscious, and annoying tics. He says…

