Writers and filmmakers know that words and images reach only an approximate truth. Author Jon Krakauer seemed painfully aware of this when chronicling his 1996 expedition to Mount Everest in the best-selling book Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of…
“Merchants of Doubt” Peeks Behind the Rhetorical Veil
Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner doesn’t go in front of the camera to make a point like Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11, Occupy Los Angeles) or Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold). But he’s no less of a…
Allure of the Foreign: Child 44 and 6 Thrillers Set Abroad
We have myriad euphemisms for how someone dies ahead of his time, but murder by any other name is still a ghastly business in the politically charged thriller Child 44 and other mysteries set abroad. Based on the acclaimed novel…
The Many Layers of the Late Paul Walker
Paul Walker’s piercing blue eyes stare out over a steering wheel in “Furious 7” with fiery determination that can’t help but leaving viewers feeling bittersweet. Walker died in November 2013 at age forty in a high-speed car crash during a…
“The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” Not Worth The Stay
I love Judi Dench. I first noticed her in 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” where her tart-tongued Queen Elizabeth scored her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She made a hell of an impression in less than seven minutes of screen…
Oscar Contenders 2015: Best Directors
I’ll be watching the Oscars on Sunday — won’t you? Today at Word and Film, I look at the five nominees for Best Director: Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”), Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Birdman”), Richard Linklater (“Boyhood”), Bennett Miller (“Foxcatcher”) and Morten…
Dave Bautista and Other Wrestlers Who’ve Gone from Mat to Screen
With a summer blockbuster behind him and a role as a henchman in a James Bond film on the horizon, Dave Bautista is the latest professional wrestler to flip successfully from the ring to the multiplex. “Wrestling is storytelling,” Bautista…
4 Reasons to Keep Loving ‘Longmire’
Sheriff Walt Longmire favors a Ford Bronco on duty instead of a horse, but the cable series bearing his name has such a strong Western presence that he’d seem equally at home solving crime from a saddle. Passionate fans of the Wyoming-set…
Pinocchio Redux in “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”
Few writer-directors today have a pop-culture touch like Joss Whedon, so it’s thrilling to see the helmer of “The Avengers” twist an icon like Pinocchio into Frankenstein’s monster for the superhero team’s sequel. However, it’s not entirely unexpected: The themes…