Oscar 2011 has a superb set of ten Best Picture nominees. Aside from certain content awareness advisories for most of the films, I can, without reservation, say that all ten are are worth seeing. This means that there are really none of them that are …more »»
Film Talks opened in: 2011
A Good Day to Die (1995)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — March 24, 2011
In the intricate construction of its plot, A Good Day to Die sets up a number of questions about race and relationship — rich and worthy questions that get well beyond platitudes. By (mostly) avoiding simple stereotypes, the film’s …more »»
Away We Go (2009)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — April 29, 2011
With light-hearted seriousness, Away We Go romps us through a young couple’s search for life. Or, actually, their search is for a place to live, but of course there’s always a …more »»
Away We Go (2009)
(After viewing)
by Randy Heffner — April 29, 2011
The love at the center of Away We Go is a beautiful thing to see, particularly because of how Burt & Verona tolerate each other, and it’s their relationship that reaches out and grabs me from the film. It makes me want all the more to be the kind of person who …more »»
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — March 27, 2011
What drives a wayward son to be wayward? What is waywardness, really? Cool Hand Luke hides these questions in every frame, and it’s not always clear who is the wayward one. This uncertainty gives the film a broad and deep question-richness that sets us nicely into a mode of …more »»
The Descendants (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 16, 2011
Witty and gentle, unfolding at a closely measured pace, The Descendants moves through a chaotic but in the end lovely cohort of relationships wrestling with misdeeds, transgressions, wounds, and flaws, mixing tenderness and aggravation to explore how we might find heart in the middle …more »»
Drive (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — October 1, 2011
The trailers for Drive promise an action flick full of intensity and fast driving. There is indeed plenty of intensity and also some very good driving. There are some very bad bad guys, and great peril of life and limb. If that’s all one wants in a film, …more »»
Goodbye Solo (2009)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 15, 2011
A momentary acquaintance is most times just that: momentary. The beauty in Goodbye Solo arises from a quick, sharp moment of insight leads one character, driven by his depth of concern for other people, to relentlessly …more »»
Goodbye Solo (2009)
(After viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 15, 2011
I was intensely struck by Solo’s character in Goodbye Solo and specifically by his immediate — and sustained — reaction to a fellow human in crisis. I want to be that ready to reach and stretch …more »»
The Ides of March (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 18, 2011
Of all the interest The Ides of March has to offer, the title is among the most interesting of them. The reference to political leaders and assassinations is the knee-jerk and most obvious reference, yet the film turns out to be much more …more »»
J. Edgar (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 1, 2011
The single most notable characteristic of J. Edgar is its even-handedness. It could have gone liberal, centering on abuse of power and civil rights violations, or conservative, centering on our dangerous world and the need for certain protections. Instead, …more »»
The King’s Speech (2010)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — January 5, 2011
The pace and energy of The King’s Speech is driven by characters and their relationships, not by events and action. On the surface, the film is about a powerful man overcoming a personal weakness, but what’s more important …more »»
Melancholia (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 4, 2011
In Melancholia, Lars von Trier gives us a film that is simultaneously enigmatic yet concrete, multilayered yet with a simple-enough central story, immediately accessible yet with endless elements that beg for deeper consideration. By juxtaposing …more »»
Sarah’s Key (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — August 9, 2011
Sarah’s Key relates a Jewish girl’s experience during a terrible incident of French complicity in the Holocaust, which is indeed a powerful story in itself, yet the true strength of the film (and the novel on which it is based) is in its intertwining of …more »»
Seven Days in Utopia (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — September 20, 2011
Knowing that Seven Days in Utopia is, broadly speaking, from the genre of Christian films might cause some to cheer and some to run. For my part, I take the film on its own terms, letting it build its …more »»
