Justin Marble

Book Review: Film Critic Manny Farber — Ravenous Genius

November 20, 2009
Posted in , ,

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. Edited by Robert Polito. Library of America, 1000 pages, $40. Reviewed by Justin Marble Film critic Manny Farber’s landmark 1962 essay “White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art” champions the underground, manic, frenzied, messy “termite” films against the by-the-book, consciously significant, pompous and often critically-adored “white…

Read More

Film Review: The Refreshing Beaches of Agnes Varda

November 9, 2009
Posted in ,

By Justin Marble “The Beaches of Agnes” At the Coolidge Corner Cinema If a motif exists in Agnes Varda’s sprawling new documentary, “The Beaches of Agnes,” it may just be the art of walking backwards. The 81-year-old director, famous among the art house crowd for French New Wave films like “Cleo from 5 to 7,”…

Read More

Coming Attractions: Film Picks for November 2009

November 1, 2009
Posted in ,

By Justin Marble November begins the yearly onslaught of studio-groomed Oscar bait, and the amount of coverage that these films will get will probably kill off several small forests. Yet the art house theaters in Boston have, as always, put together a varied and compelling dose of counter programming. These films probably won’t hear their…

Read More

Film Review: “A Serious Man” Has Serious Thoughts

October 15, 2009
Posted in ,

Reviewed by Justin Marble For all of their acclaim, the Coen brothers have never been considered “personal” filmmakers. Technically talented, stylish, and humorous, sure, but in describing the Coens’ filmography, even their attempts at “mature” pieces deal in fantasy elements. Hitmen, large sums of money, and murder yarns proliferate the Coens’ oeuvre, and while these…

Read More

Coming Attractions in Film: October 2009

October 1, 2009
Posted in ,

By Justin Marble October 1 through 3: Classic Cinema at Museum of Fine Arts: This weekend, the Museum of Fine Arts is showing two classic pieces of cinema. First up is Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood,” his reworking of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in feudal Japan. Then it’s Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch,” a 1969 Western that…

Read More

Film Review: “Big Fan” Shoots a Freak in a Barrel

September 27, 2009
Posted in ,

Robert Siegel has an undeniable talent for capturing the desperation and despair of his downtrodden character, but the director never tells us why he is plumbing the lower depths of America’s mania for sports. Big Fan, directed by Robert Siegel, showing at Kendall Square Cinema. Reviewed by Justin Marble Like Robert Siegel’s first script, “The…

Read More

Film Review: “Beeswax” — Hyper Realism Triumphant

September 21, 2009
Posted in ,

by Justin Marble Beeswax, directed by Andrew Bujalski, showing at Coolidge Corner Theatre. Boston native Andrew Bujalski’s third feature film, “Beeswax,” does not reel off the trials and tribulations of superheroes, pirates, serial killers, or giant transforming robots. There’s no killer shark, no Godzilla, no guns, and no aliens. Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts do…

Read More

Recent Posts