Email Author Alan Scherstuhl
2013 Stories by Alan Scherstuhl
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Valentine Road is a Great, Urgent Doc About the Murder of an LGBT Teen
published October 3, 2013
Perhaps the best and worst thing about young teenagers is that they're capable of what George W. Bush fans used to call “great moral... More >>
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Blue Caprice Finds Fresh Terror in the D.C. Sniper Case
published September 19, 2013
With so many violent movies, and lurid movies, and straight-up bad movies, most just so much murderous product, it's rare anymore to be seized... More >>
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Wadjda Is a Moving Film From Saudia Arabia, Where Cinemas Are Outlawed
published September 12, 2013
Like all kid protagonists in movies, Wadjda's Wadjda wants one pure thing so much that the very concept of want shades into... More >>
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My Father and the Man in Black: A Fascinating Documentary From the Son of Johnny Cash's Manager
published September 5, 2013
It's a weird miracle that Johnny Cash and his primitive twosome banged out music that still feels so full and vital today. And it's a weird... More >>
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Salinger, the New Documentary, Would Make Holden Caulfield Very Angry
published September 5, 2013
"If they made a movie, Holden wouldn't like it," Martin Sheen opines deep into the new documentary Salinger. He's speaking of the... More >>
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Brian De Palma’s Sexy Melodrama Passion, Starring Rachel McAdams
published August 29, 2013
Your life surges ahead as it is, pretty much, but maybe tinted blue. Maybe everything around you is tilted a bit, and strips of light glow on... More >>
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The Spectacular Now Is the Summer's Best Romance
published August 1, 2013
Hey, Hollywood can still do romance! Even since the marketeers worked out that the kiss-kiss, bang-bang formula could be profitably split, with... More >>
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Blackfish Traces a SeaWorld Orca’s History of Violence
published July 18, 2013
Here's something you would think we all could agree on: Rigid parts of the body probably shouldn't go slack. But try asking a SeaWorld... More >>
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In Crystal Fairy, Michael Cera Delivers a Great, Dickish Performance
published July 11, 2013
With an offhand precision that suggests he might prove to be one of his generation's major actors, Michael Cera lays bare two specific human... More >>
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Gideon's Army: HBO's Most Illuminating Crime Drama Since The Wire
published June 27, 2013
Among the revelations you're likely to experience during the course of Gideon's Army, Dawn Porter's vital, moving new... More >>
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This Is the End Review: The World Collapses Not With a Whimper But With a Dick Joke
published June 13, 2013
From the peak of Anchorman to the nadir of Burt Wonderstone, the formula for studio comedies of the last 20 years has been... More >>
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Man of Steel: Making Sense of All That Christ and Death Stuff
published June 13, 2013
Sometimes there's just too damn much to say about a movie than can fit into any one review. (Even More >>
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The Purge Asks Which Lives Are Worth More Than Others
published June 6, 2013
Here's a category idea for bar trivia: Collect one-sentence plot summaries of young-adult novel series and R-rated horror films, and see who... More >>
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If George R. R. Martin Wrote Every TV Show Ever
published June 6, 2013
George R. R. Martin took a break from killing Starks today to send us this list of the notes he would send to the producers of... More >>
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In Omit the Logic, Richard Pryor Crucifies Himself, Again and Again
published May 30, 2013
“Least you got to see a motherfucker crucify himself,” Richard Pryor spits in the most surprising footage director Marina Zenovich... More >>
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After Earth: Smith Family Robinson
published May 30, 2013
The surprise twist in the new M. Night Shyamalan film is that the film is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a fact that the movie—like the... More >>
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Fast and Furious 6 Review: This Is Why We Have Car Chases
published May 23, 2013
There's one key truth that separates the tank-topped gearheads of the Fast and Furious movies from the rest of us. Every problem these... More >>
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What Is a Movie Critic's Job in the Summer of Comic Books? A Discussion
published May 2, 2013
Stephanie Zacharek is the new More >>
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Oblivion Review: Tom Cruise's Grand Sci-Fi Experiment
published April 18, 2013
The good news: Here's a lavish, serious science-fiction picture, one that on occasion transcends big-budget hit-making convention to glance... More >>
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Django Unchained: The Most Moving Scene Quentin Tarantino Has Yet Filmed
published April 18, 2013
Half a year later, now on Blu-ray and DVD, Django Unchained is still kicking up shit, this time via... More >>
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Sundance Channel's Rectify Takes a Mighty Swing at Greatness
published April 18, 2013
At any prior point in TV history, Rectify, a six-part... More >>
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42 Almost Makes Jackie Robinson Into a Man Rather Than a Myth
published April 11, 2013
A likable hagiography as nuanced as a plaque at Cooperstown's Hall of Fame, Brian Helgeland's Jackie Robinson bio 42 finds a politic... More >>
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation's a Battle of Dumb Pleasures Versus Your Higher Brain Function
published March 28, 2013
What must Bruce Willis have felt when he discovered that his seven or so minutes of G.I. Joe: Retaliation screen time... More >>
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Here are Five Awesome/Crazy Theories About The Shining from Room 237
published March 21, 2013
Like the blood that gushes forth from the elevators of the Overlook Hotel, brilliant/ridiculous theories of what Stanley Kubrick's The... More >>
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Top of the Lake Review: Peggy Olson Goes to Hell, in Jane Campion's TV Series
published March 14, 2013
Elisabeth Moss' face is far from the only reason to savor Top of the Lake, Jane Campion's smart, bracing, hugely enjoyable mystery... More >>
