Frenzy On Column By Noah ForrestForrest@moviecitynews.com
11 Movies to See This Summer
It’s funny how, as I’ve gotten older, the “thrill” of summer movies aren’t what they used to be. I remember counting down the days until I got Entertainment Weekly’s Summer Movie Preview and reading every story about every film, marking the magazine up with check marks, all the films that I wanted to see immediately…
Read the full article »J. Lo, You Coulda Been a Contenda
Watching the ads for Jennifer Lopez’s latest film, I can’t help but feel a bit wistful. I think about the potential that was clearly there, but more often I think about how stupid she made me seem. For years I defended Lopez and her abilities based on the talent displayed in the remarkable Out of Sight. She…
Read the full article »Now Playing
As a film essayist, the question I get asked most often is, “so, what’s the last good movie you saw?” When I say something like, “well, I just saw Ophuls’ La Ronde and thought it was spectacular,” I’m inevitably met with blank stares. When most people ask about the last good film you’ve seen, they…
Read the full article »Remakes Galore
I generally shrug when I hear about this or that film being remade or “reimagined” or whatever buzz word that is supposed to make you forget that you’re seeing a retread. I know a lot of people get upset when they hear about one of their favorite films being remade and how it means that…
Read the full article »I Miss Jude Law
Jude Law has to be one of the most underrated and overexposed actors out there and the two go hand in hand; folks dismiss Law as just tabloid fodder with a pretty face and because of that, I think the public at large doesn’t appreciate him for being what he is. And what is he? …
Read the full article »Tim Burton: Sometimes Being an Auteur is a Bad Thing
As an elitist film snob, I subscribe to the “auteur” theory. I believe that the director is the true author of the film and that it is my job as a film writer to trace a filmmaker’s themes and creative tics through their filmography. When Truffaut wrote about the Auteur theory, he was speaking mostly…
Read the full article »Classics Versus New Releases
There are too many damn movies. As a cinephile, I feel it is my duty to see as many films as possible. But unfortunately, Hollywood won’t just give me time to catch up on all the ones I’ve missed since they keep churning out new films every year. So I try to see somewhere between…
Read the full article »Marty, You Can Do Better
Last week, I spoke of the virtues of Martin Scorsese and why all film geeks everywhere should be excited to see his newest film, Shutter Island. The opening of a new Scorsese film was something that I felt was a cinematic event more exciting than the first weekend of any blockbuster. So, just know that when I…
Read the full article »A Scorsese Love Poem and Unmade Movies
Scorsese the Underdog I haven’t seen Shutter Island yet, although it seems like the rest of the film community has. That’s fine by me since I wouldn’t want to see it any other way than on Friday afternoon with a crowd full of film fans, rather than a screening room full of critics. Seeing The Departed on…
Read the full article »Red Riding: Better than The Godfather?
Some films are so dense that it’s impossible to truly appreciate them while you’re watching them for the first time. The Red Riding trilogy is one of those films. Although, calling it a “trilogy” isn’t really appropriate because although it is three separate films by three separate directors using three very techniques, they are all…
Read the full article »If I Had a Ballot
I have to be honest; I really haven’t been following the Oscars as closely as I usually do. I’m not sure why that is, but if I had to venture a guess, I’d say it’s because of two big factors: 1) 2009 was one of the worst years for movies in recent history and 2)…
Read the full article »So Long, Old Friend
I know that a large portion of my readers come to my column to get some insight or information about the movies currently playing in theaters. Most weeks, I’m obliged to do just that; I think that cinema is an ever-growing organism and there are always issues and idiosyncrasies in the present-day film world that…
Read the full article »It’s Really Not That Complicated
I’m a big fan of the romantic comedy genre, but I am no fan of It’s Complicated. I think watching two people fall in love and laughing at the same time is one of the singular pleasures of going to the movies. The basic premise is almost always the same: Here are two people who…
Read the full article »The Top Ten of the Aughts
The past decade has had an awful lot of good films, which made this a hard column to write. My preliminary list, as discussed here had 54 films vying for ten spots on this list. It took me a month to slowly narrow things down and put them in some kind of order. Here is…
Read the full article »James Gray Director of Two Lovers
Noah has a far-ranging conversation with Two Lovers director James Gray about Francis Ford Coppola, Italian neo-realism vs French New Wave, The 400 Blows, and his potential next film: The Lost City of Z starring Brad Pitt. Listen to Noah Forrest Podcast with James Gray
Read the full article »The Top Ten of 2009
As I look back on the cinematic year and the one hundred and fifty new releases that I saw, I feel absolutely certain that this is one of the worst years for films in recent history. No doubt 2009 is the worst year of the past decade with only a handful of great films, one…
Read the full article »The 2nd Annual Frenzies
Since every minor and major critics group in the country has come up with their own award, I decided last year that I would start my own, The Frenzies. Last year was a rousing success and as with everything in Hollywood that is successful in its first go-round, it’s time for the sequel! I still have…
Read the full article »The Best of All Decades
A few weeks ago, I wrote a long column about why 25th Hour is the best film of the aughts. That got me thinking about what the rest of my list would look like. I’ve narrowed down the list of potential candidates – I’m ultimately going to pick ten – and in the interest of full…
Read the full article »For Your Consideration 2009
Every year I try to single out the performances and films that I think aren’t getting enough attention during the awards season. It seems that certain storylines become more “interesting” or certain actors or films become the “underdog” that everyone roots for and a lot of quality gets lost in the shuffle. And this year,…
Read the full article »Precious is Great Melodrama
I have to start this piece by saying that I’m a young, white male. I’ve lived in New York City since the early part of this decade. I have no idea what it is like to be a sixteen-year-old black girl in 1987 Harlem. I cannot comment with any authority about whether or not the story told in Precious is…
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