- Bad Lieutenant (1992) – Ed Howard, Only the Cinema
A thoughtful and visceral review of the original Bad Lieutenant: “Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant is a film entirely built around its central performance, Harvey Keitel’s fearless, unfettered turn as a corrupt, unnamed New York City police lieutenant. Keitel delivers a performance of unrelenting power and intensity, a nasty, ugly portrayal of a man on a mission of self-destruction. He staggers through a filthy, dimly lit vision of New York, doing drugs in grimy apartments and even grimier hallways, pulling out his gun at a moment’s provocation, engaging in sordid sexual exploits even though he actually seems barely interested, and must have so many drugs in his system that real sexuality is impossible anyway. It’s a sloppy, crazy performance, and Keitel pours himself into it, breathing life into this bottom-dwelling man, this guy who, for no discernible reason, seems bent on bringing himself to the lowest possible place.” - façade: Forgotten ’50s Femmes
An appreciation and call to remember 1950s B-movie actresses like Barbara Rush, Julie Adams, Delores Michaels, Dana Wynter, Patricia Owens, and Martha Hyers. - Top 10 Comedies of 2009
The comedy tide turned a bit in 2009. Titans dropped while underdogs soared. Alpha males were KO’d while beta males throw punishing right hooks — in quality, at least. Box office is another story. - TIFF Announces Canada’s Top Ten 2009
Alphabetically: Cairo Time; Carcasses; Crackie; Defendor; La Donation; J’ai tué ma mère; Passenger Side; Polytechnique; The Trotsky; The Wild Hunt - Meet the ‘Shock Jocks’ of movie criticism: Armond White and Fiore Mastracci
Two film reviewers who attract gallons of bile from those who consider themselves discerning fans are Fiore Mastracci and Armond White. Mastracci is a film teacher from Pittsburgh with a blog and a cable television show, who writes reviews for (in his own words), “those who remember when films had and expounded on American and family values” [..] Armond White, meanwhile, is no idiot. He writes for the Manhattan freesheet New York Press, and is currently the chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle. When he gave a bad review to the otherwise-acclaimed South African sci-fi thriller District 9 this summer, the web erupted in outrage.
This discussion currently has 6 responses.
December 10, 2009
Not being a big ‘comedy’ guy (and having missed many on that Moviefone list above), I’d have to say that these were my favourite ‘comedies’ (some blur into other categories for sure):
In The Loop
Up In The Air
Soul Kitchen
Black Dynamite
A Serious Man
December 10, 2009
The two trends I noticed at least in my movie-going experience for 2009 is its been a great year for comedies and documentaries.
I would add also Away We Go and Adventureland.
December 10, 2009
It is a bit of a push to consider either of those two ‘comedies’ but, I agree that they are both great movies.
December 10, 2009
really? I think Away We Go is very funny, just because it does have genuine drama in it too, I would say it is predominately a comedy, if on the shelf at a video store it would be under comedy.
December 10, 2009
Really? I agree that it is funny (actually very funny), but In my sad cynical world, Blockbuster would most assuredly file this under drama.
December 10, 2009
the first minute before the title card alone gives it comedy status.