The brothers Cairnes stage their escalating series of unfortunate events with lackadaisical confidence, propelling things ever forward with jovial efficiency that’s as inventive as it is absurd. They spill a lot of blood, throwing guts and bits of flesh all over the place, doing it with a gorgeously energetic joy that’s continually impressive.

I’ve watched Berberian Sound Studio three times and I’m still not entirely certain I’ve got it all figured out. At this point, I’m fairly certain I’m not supposed to.

The pacing, while measured, some might even go so far as to call it leisurely, felt spot-on as far as I was concerned, everything building with an unhurried malevolent elegance that kept the tension building and the suspense continually omnipresent.

I’m not sure what to write about Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. The movie is as observationally distant as many of her previous films, especially Somewhere, to a lesser extent Lost in Translation, looking at its vapid, materialistic, fame-obsessed central group of teenage reprobates with the same disaffected malaise they themselves project. It’s aggressively nonjudgmental, the film choosing to view its protagonists with a detached superficiality that doesn’t connect emotionally but still manages to pack something of a major, uncomforting wallop all the same.

Much Ado About Nothing is an astonishing creation overflowing in passion, energy, romance and humor. Whedon has done a glorious thing with this Shakespeare classic, and as summertime surprises are concerned, this ranks right up there with some of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure to see.

It’s a venal shell game where grey overwhelms all of the black and white ideals Sarah originally held, making her ultimate destination all the more emotionally affecting in the process.

“Going through a difficult experience isn’t the end of the line. There can be hope. It’s out there; you just have to grab it.”
– Scott McGehee

The Kings of Summer shouldn’t work, the fact that it does a pleasant summertime cinematic revelation I couldn’t have been more thankful for.

Before Midnight, like its predecessors, is a masterpiece, and I have a feeling I’ll be holding it near and dear to my heart for the rest of my life.