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Category Archive: Features

Columns, thinkpieces, and opinions on every inch of pop culture.

Criterion Corner: “Parallax View”, “Mandabi”, “Smooth Talk”

Criterion Corner Parallax View
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’70s conspiracy thrillers, African social dramas, and Laura Dern’s breakout performance number among Criterion’s February lineup.

Clint Worthington Posted on February 22, 2021February 22, 2021

PSH I Love You: Hoffman blinks in and out of “Next Stop Wonderland”

PSH I Love You Next Stop Wonderland
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Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a selfish ex in this Hope Davis-led indie romance.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on February 22, 2021February 22, 2021

P.S.H. I Love You: “Love Liza” is an agonizing cry from the heart

Love Liza
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Philip Seymour Hoffman’s first lead role is a one-man show of raw human emotion.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on February 15, 2021February 16, 2021

P.S.H. I Love You: “Patch Adams” is dead on arrival

Patch Adams
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Robin Williams smarms his way through his misguided, treacly 1998 medical dramedy.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on February 8, 2021February 8, 2021

“The Expanse” and “Mobile Suit Gundam”: two sides of the sci-fi coin

The Expanse // Mobile Suit Gundam
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Fans of Amazon’s premiere science-fiction series would do well to spend their time between seasons catching up on its anime forebears.

Grant Posted on February 7, 2021February 7, 2021

P.S.H. I Love You: “Flawless” is anything but

Flawless
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Joel Schumacher’s well-intentioned buddy dramedy puts Philp Seymour Hoffman in the role of a trans woman, to outdated result.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on February 1, 2021February 1, 2021

“The Reluctant Fundamentalist”’s subterfuge of the American Dream

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
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Mira Nair’s adaptation of the Mohsin Hamid novel is a probing exploration of the forces that make us who we are.

Roxana Hadadi Posted on January 28, 2021January 31, 2021

“The Namesake” beautifully explores the liminal states of immigrant life

The Namesake
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Mira Nair’s sumptuous adaptation of the Jhumpa Lahiri novel treats the dynamics of multi-generational immigrant families with grace.

Priyanka Bose Posted on January 27, 2021January 26, 2021

“Amelia” is little more than smoke on the wind

Amelia
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Mira Nair’s most American film may well be her most impersonal.

Tim Stevens Posted on January 26, 2021January 26, 2021

PSH adds a dose of comedy to a sweetly old-fashioned drama

Nobody's Fool
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Nobody’s Fool features a late-in-his-career Paul Newman at his best, and Bruce Willis when he still cared.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on January 24, 2021January 24, 2021

Criterion Corner: Luis Buñuel, “Minding the Gap”, “Rolling Thunder Revue”

Criterion Corner Minding the Gap
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January’s Criterion offerings include a box set of Bunuel’s final films, Martin Scorsese on Bob Dylan, and Bing Liu’s astonishing doc debut.

Clint Worthington Posted on January 24, 2021January 24, 2021

“Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love” is Mira Nair’s inane misadventure

Kama Sutra a Tale of Love
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Mira Nair crafts a messy, regressive tale of sexual liberation filtered through a heteronormative gaze, giving us sex without tempering it with love.

Sumeet Kaur Posted on January 24, 2021January 24, 2021

“Monsoon Wedding” is a warm-hearted ode to family and Indian culture

Monsoon Wedding
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Mira Nair’s breakthrough international hit both draws from Bollywood tradition and breaks out of its restrictions, creating something wholly new and endearing in the process.

Soham Gadre Posted on January 24, 2021January 23, 2021

“Vanity Fair” puts a modern flair on a dusty classic

Vanity Fair
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Mira Nair turns a dreary novel into something bright and beautiful, and changed how we looked at it.

B.L. Panther Posted on January 21, 2021January 21, 2021

PSH is marvelous in “The Big Lebowski”

The Big Lebowski
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Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the ultimate lackey in The Coen Brothers’ gleefully silly stoner comedy.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

Revisiting Mira Nair’s vibrant, character-driven “Salaam Bombay!”

Salaam Bombay!
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Mira Nair’s 1988 breakout remains a scintillating tale of poverty in India’s slums, even as it toes the line of exploitation.

Manish Mathur Posted on January 12, 2021January 12, 2021

P.S.H. I Love You: PSH steps behind the camera in “Jack Goes Boating”

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Philip Seymour Hoffman stepped behind the camera one time for this thin adaptation of the Robert Glaudini play.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on January 11, 2021January 11, 2021

January’s Filmmaker of the Month: Mira Nair

Mira Nair Filmmaker of the Month
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We start 2021 by profiling the vibrant, richly textured, deceptively political works of Mira Nair.

Clint Worthington Posted on January 5, 2021February 7, 2021

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