Having never seen an Audrey Hepburn film before, the only image of her I have in my head is, of course, the sleek black dress, the ornate pearl necklace, and the dark sunglasses from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I’ve always associated this photo with Hepburn’s status as a style icon, as opposed to the film it spawned from. Finally seeing the movie that helped make her a legend was actually an interesting and surprisingly enjoyable experience.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s definitely brought out the girl in me.
Even before ever seeing the film, if I had been asked what I thought the most beloved movie of all time is, I would have said Casablanca. I may be ignorant for never having seen it, but I bet a lot of people would agree with my answer. Others might argue Citizen Kane. It is considered the greatest movie of all time by the American Film Institute, after all. However, I would argue that Casablanca’s themes of love and letting love go are what make the film timeless.
First time filmmaker, Evan Glodell, wrote, directed and starred in his visually-compelling feature, Bellflower. The film follows two friends, Woodrow and Aiden, who are obsessed with the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max and its sequel, The Road Warrior. Living in California, the two spend their time imagining life after the apocalypse and building real weapons and other objects for their imagined world.
"Rio" is one for the kiddies, so you'll have to forgive this childless twenty-something for feeling at odds with the target audience. The theater was stuffed with tykes with mouths agape—whispering, screaming, and coughing. I have no idea if that means they were enjoying it. From an adult perspective, this anthropomorphic epic isn't necessarily a painful endurance test, but unlike Nickelodeon's "Rango," there isn't a single compelling reason to recommend it to anyone over the age of 12.
Self-referentiality is the soul of the "Scream" series, but its fourth installment carries so much franchise baggage that director Wes Craven never really gets around to making a new movie. "Scream" and its sequels skewered then-modern genre tropes—a decade later the mind reels to imagine how the modern horror landscape might lend itself to parody. From the proliferation of "torture porn" to the endless deluge of remakes, one would think the 21st century meant easy pickins for satirists. But if "Scream 4" is any indication, the barbs are only as sharp as their inspiration.
"Source Code" isn't even vaguely plausible. I try not to overthink sci-fi spitballing, but even the most preposterous premises should adhere to an implicit rule set. Based on a screenplay by Ben Ripley, who previously authored two direct-to-DVD "Species" flicks, this lazy follow-up to director Duncan Jones' understated 2009 character study "Moon" is a major disappointment.
"We'd all love to be great, we'd all like to do something special and make an impact on the world. Here's a story about a guy who actually finds some fantastical way to make it happen.
