Tim Grierson

Wild Life

Oscar Nominated Shorts Reviewed

Tim Grierson
This year's Academy Award–nominated shorts offer a little something for every viewing temperament — though some categories require sitting through a lot of mediocre to get to the good. Of the five documentaries, Saving Face and God Is the Bigger Elvis were sadly not made available for critics, but the......
Let's Pollute

Oscar Shorts: Brief Encounters

Tim Grierson
In past years, the theatrical release of the Oscar-nominated live-action and animated shorts has provided a fun peek into intriguing, bite-size cinema from across the globe. But for the 2011 edition, the series is at last making room for the five nominated documentary shorts as well. Unfortunately, this year's nonfiction......

LOUIS

Tim Grierson
LOUIS Director Dan Pritzker's playful silent comedy features beautiful women cavorting in frilly lingerie, a jazzy score overseen by Wynton Marsalis (which he'll perform with an ensemble at special screenings) and a shooting style that mimics the look of pre-talkies cinema. So why isn't Louis more fun? In 1907 New......

Movie Review: SOMETHING’S GONNA LIVE

Tim Grierson
GO  SOMETHING’S GONNA LIVE Warmly nostalgic, Something’s Gonna Live sheds light on film industry professionals most moviegoers disregard unless they’re filling out their Oscar pool sheet: production designers and cinematographers. Documentarian Daniel Raim previously paid homage to acclaimed production designer Robert F. Boyle (North by Northwest) with his Academy-nominated short......
Love

Star Trek: The Motion Pictures

Tim Grierson
Thirty three years after the first film's release, Star Wars remains the dominant cinematic sci-fi franchise, far outpacing Star Trek both commercially and critically. But between the success of J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot and the continuing erosion of George Lucas' Star Wars brand with shoddy prequels and spin-offs,......
law logo2x b

THE MAN WHO GAVE VAN GOGH LINES

Tim Grierson
Many famous names are associated with the 1956 drama Lust for Life: Vincente Minnelli, who directed the film; Vincent Van Gogh, the 19th-century Dutch painter w...
law logo2x b

LYNCH BLOB

Tim Grierson
In an act of willful perversity worthy of the director himself, the New Beverly is pairing one of David Lynch's most revered films with one of his most revi...
Instead of Abracadabra

Short and (Too) Sweet

Tim Grierson
Because they're crafted outside the Hollywood system, you might assume that this year's Oscar-nominated live-action and animated shorts stand in sharp defiance of conventional mainstream cinema. But the best of these 10 entries are, in some ways, the most familiar — their most radical element being that they operate in......