Calum Marsh

Fast & Furious & Elegant: Justin Lin and the Vulgar Auteurs

Calum Marsh
Justin Lin may strike some as out of place in the pantheon of contemporary auteurs. The Taiwanese-born American filmmaker, best known for having directed Fast Five and its sequel, Fast & Furious 6, makes unabashedly populist blockbusters for mainstream audiences—hardly the purview of a "serious" artist. His films, wafer thin......

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Is David Lynch's Masterpiece

Calum Marsh
Few films lend themselves to critical reevaluation as well as David Lynch's much-maligned Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Booed at its premiere at Cannes in 1992 (and playing at BAM as part of their "Booed at Cannes" series, which runs through May 23), eviscerated by the popular press during......

The Big Wedding is Vile, Racist, and Embarrassing

Calum Marsh
When Michael Haneke’s sobering end-of-life drama Amour premiered at Cannes last May, many critics reflected on the presence of a shared cultural legacy. Its stars, Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, evoked the iconography of the New Wave, the once-young faces of Hiroshima mon amour and My Night at Maud’s now......
Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut.

Tom Cruise Can Still Be Great — Why Aren't His Movies?

Calum Marsh
Though he's long been among the most recognizable celebrities in the world, Tom Cruise has always seemed vaguely irritating, like the popular kid at school everybody secretly dislikes. His is an odd sort of fame: globally recognized but rarely acclaimed, he remains more reliably bankable than nearly any other actor......

Roger Ebert: Why There Can Never Be Another

Calum Marsh
A common sentiment recurs through the abundance of eulogies and obituaries penned by film critics in the wake of his death late last week: Roger Ebert was an inspiration. It's easy enough to be encouraged by another's success — to regard an esteemed elder colleague with a combination of admiration......