Meet the Author - Rory Dean
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Blog Catalog Sites
Above the Line: Practical Movie Reviews- Some Safety Glass Distance (2013) May 11, 2013Writing is in my blood, it makes me feel connected to an often overwhelming sense of disconnectedness. Continue reading →rorydean
- Argo (2012) April 6, 2013So "Argo" should be on your list of movies to watch if you've missed it up to now. Be advised that the thrills come in bite-fulls and the story is much more about an ensemble cast than any one particular player. This has double feature written all over it. Pick up a couple of other movies while you're at it and if all goes South in a hurr […]rorydean
- 629 March 30, 2013This filmic is a multi-layered visual experience that takes place not in the dream-world but along the road that surrounds it. Continue reading →bleuravyn
- I Melt With You (2011) March 1, 2013“I Melt With You” feels like the mid-life rights of passage you've heard about or are living, the runway that many men land and take off from. Gathered for many drinks with the best friends of their lives quickly becomes a dangerous Bacchanalia of doomed ritualizing, darkly lit and disturbing yet familiar to anyone who has ever fallen off the beaten pat […]rorydean
- Female Directors Redux February 27, 2013Reblogged from Above the Line: Female Directors Redux - Women in Film in Hollywood and beyond After reviewing my original list "Female Directors - Above and Beyond a Call to Duty" and discussing female filmmakers with a variety of film aficionados, … Continue reading →rorydean
- Some Safety Glass Distance (2013) May 11, 2013
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Date Night (2010) or Not to Date Night
If Date Night succeeds at all it is its quick elevator pitch. “A middle aged couple stuck in the hum-drum of their work-life-careers needs a respite from the kids, picks a fancy restaurant where not even the rich get a spot and after pretending to be someone else, get a table and become the targets of not-so nice arch criminals.”
And then what happens? A far-fetched and silly road trip through Manhattan with plot holes the size of man-hole covers and notable bit-parts populated with unexpected big name actors who sadly only show up long enough to blather and leave. What we realize, albeit too late, is that concept films can only get you so far before a weak script begins to peak out all over. Continue reading
Ahora o’ Nunca or “Now or Never” a.k.a The Bucket List (2007)
Life is like a sucker punch, a dupe, and you’re lucky if you get a handful of moments to think about where you’ve been and what you’ve done before the unavoidable collision and the lights go out. A movie like The Bucket List is supposed to catch us off guard about a subject no one really wants to talk about and rarely do before they have to, and for a little while we are forced to face mortality and laugh a little in its face. Continue reading
Down to the Bone (2005)
Down to the Bone is the 2005 independent film drama by Debra Granik that tells the story of a woman ensnared; mother and wife, lover and addict, her roles are as indispensable as costume jewelry and worn without regard for fashion or the opinions of others. Directed and co-written by Granik, the film won the Sundance Film Festival Director’s Award for Granik and Special Jury Prize for star Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air). The film takes place in a wintry upstate New York, though unlike her follow-up Winter’s Bone (2010), the climate is less a sense of place and character as temperature, as the frigid space between forlorn lovers and the airy chasm that threatens life and limb as fueled by drug addiction and emotional vacancy. Down to the Bone is not a title as much as a declaration; this is paucity personified and minutiae examined. Continue reading
The Descent Part 2 (2009) Too Many
There is eve less reason to watch The Descent Part 2 than just about any nameless, low-budget zombie flick in recent memory. At least with a movie of that nature you know what to expect and can alter your expectations accordingly. You might even catch a better horror film for free on the internet or on cable but either way The Descent Part 2 is going to leave you gasping for air and wishing you had that rental fee back so you could spend it more wisely like on a lottery ticket or two. Continue reading
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
While caught between the implausible and the impossible, nowhere near any one genre in particular and about as quirky and original as independent films go, “Lars” asks nothing if not your willingness to explore the possibility of unconventional love. Continue reading
