(I write this on the eve of a special site-impacting announcement, because in light of what’s to come, we at Go, See, Talk! want you the reader to be aware of what’s ahead for us. Don’t worry, this isn’t a precursor to doom and gloom – quite the opposite in fact – but we wanted to keep all the information from being lumped into a long catch-all post that may or may not be overlooked. Again good news follows so gather around film fans. Here…we…go.) Five years. That’s a lot of time to account for. Of course, I personally only need to account for part of it; I only began…
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G-S-T Review…The Attorney
If seeing history filtered through a melodramatic lens of dishonesty is your idea of a good time, then you may want to consider buying a ticket to The Attorney; you won’t learn very much about the events it depicts, but at least you’ll be entertained by the film’s almost completely decontextualized content. Or maybe you won’t. Anybody who has a weakness for moral courtroom dramas should find themselves thoroughly engaged by first-time South Korean director Yang Woo-seok, who appears to be merrily cherry picking his way toward crafting a thesis on the abuses of government corruption and the moral imperative of lawyers in a society tainted by it. Everyone else,…
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G-S-T Review…At Middleton
College films come in all makes and models; some are crafted for teens preparing to head off on their first jaunt into higher learning, some exist to indulge in the stereotypes and tropes of the college experience, and others still try to bridge that gap between highbrow and lowbrow by meshing frat comedy with coming of age narrative. At Middleton does none of these things. Unlike Animal House, Old School, Van Wilder, and the countless other films that mimic them (and which they mimic themselves), Adam Rodgers’ story isn’t about kids going to college as much as it is about their parents taking them there. Which is to say that At Middleton is about the…
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Off the Shelf…’The Fifth Estate’
Bill Condon’s first post-Twilight film bites off more than it can chew, but it’s difficult to say whether that’s because of the subject matter – being the origins and rise of both Wikileaks and its controversial founder, Julian Assange – or because of the production’s unavoidable biopic bent; even at the tender age of only seven (which amounts to light years on the web), Wikileaks can already claim a rich, storied, complex history, so much so that two hours feels scarcely enough to scratch the surface of its conception or paint more than a sketch of Assange. So where, then, does The Fifth Estate go wrong? Like so many biopics,…
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Off the Shelf…’Drug War’
Should Johnnie To’s name hold no special meaning for you, consider correcting that immediately by introducing yourself to the veteran Chinese filmmaker’s work through Drug War. Apart from being handily available through Netflix’s Instant service, the film happens to be great, so strong in fact that it arguably holds a position of high honor in his decades-long career; it’s a combined symbol of his talent and vitality, and one of the most ruthless films of 2013 that you probably missed. (In the interest of full disclosure, I only caught up on Drug War myself following New Year’s, but man do I wish I’d seen it before December’s voting deadline.) Drug…
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G-S-T Review…Gimme Shelter
Think of Ron Krauss’ Gimme Shelter as the next phase in Vanessa Hudgen’s plan to recalibrate her career; it’s the continued tale of how she’s graduated from high school musicals and shed her Disney skin in an attempt to become a bona fide Actress. Truthfully, Hudgens doesn’t really need to tinker with her image much further following her stint in last year’s lurid Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine’s transgressive cultural commentary on disaffected youth, but she nonetheless appears to have arrived at a point in her life where she’s no longer content appearing in disposable teenage romances and terrible Twilight clones. It’s time for her to get real. Therein lies the…
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G-S-T Review…Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
As an exercise in brand resuscitation, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit could be worse; the film does what films of its sort must, building its titular protagonist from the ground up and establishing a potential new franchise for the character going forward. Should the stars align (literally), we could see a Jack Ryan continuance in just a couple of years’ time, assuming Chris Pine can wriggle free from Star Trek‘s grasp and Kevin Costner isn’t busy playing the wise mentor figure to another young buck trying to figure out how to be a hero. This is malleable filmmaking. It necessitates very little by way of continuity. Of course, that particular element…
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G-S-T Year In Review – Andy’s 2013 Wrap Up
Another year, another wrap up. I want to use this preamble space to touch on statistics; I saw more films on 2013’s release slate than any other year since I started this whole crazy film critic’s journey (at least within its lifespan). How many more? Well, permit me to abstain from specifics, because that would just be bragging, but I’ll say “a lot” and leave it at that. Henceforth the final tally will be a secret that haunts your dreams for life. Okay, that’s going a wee bit far. But there is a good reason for me bringing up math: after poring over the trusty (highly classified!) Word document I’ve been using…
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Off the Shelf…’Starter For 10′ (Not-So-Secret Santa Edition, #2)
(Note: as with my vicious, no-holds-barred takedown of the appallingly bad Showdown in Little Tokyo, this Off the Shelf entry is extra special. That’s because it’s also part of the Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not-So-Secret Santa Swap blogathon, which this time around is a bit more seasonally appropriate. For my swap, I was given the chance to talk about Starter For 10, a movie which did not make me want to pour boiling gravy into my eyes; it’s charming and fun, plus it has all the British people in it. Thanks to the illustrious Nick Powell for setting this whole thing up.) You’ve probably seen Starter For 10 before. By that I…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – 2013’s Underseen Gems
Well, well – we’re back here again, are we? The biggest difference between that post and the one you’re about to read, though, is that 2013 has been nothing but gravy through and through, boasting an absolutely absurd number of high quality films of all makes and models; if the early going was slow, things picked up in a big way in late Spring, and that momentum stuck for pretty much the rest of the year following that. Whether you were hitting the big multiplexes or your local arthouse establishment, 2013 had a slew of wonderful movies worth your patronage. Inevitably that means some of them fell through the cracks;…
