Monthly Archives: December 2014

And Why Not? My Top 10 Films of 2014

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Mark Stern

I’ve written before that I’m not a film critic, I just play one sometimes on this blog. But ’tis the season to make lists. Here are my top ten films of 2014: My two (tied) favorites are very different films, but … Continue reading →

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Happy Holidays

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Mark Stern
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A Great Read for the Dark Season: Bureau’s Winter Issue

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Mark Stern

The new issue, Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015, of founder and editor-in-chief Joshua Triliegi’s Bureau of Arts and Culture, is 250 gorgeous pages, with four knockout covers. When I first downloaded it, because I had recently seen “Blade Runner” again (great as ever), what I flashed … Continue reading →

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Pomme de Bois

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Mark Stern

Unlike Ebba in “Force Majeure” and Nica in “The Loneliest Planet,” Pomme (Emmanuelle Devos), doesn’t experience a sudden jolt, a shocking action, which leads to a wrenching reassessment of her partner’s character.  For Pomme, in writer and director Sophie Fillières’ “If … Continue reading →

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Tip Top (As in Excellent)

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Mark Stern

Director Serge Bozon’s “Tip Top,” a police procedural–wrapped up in an absurdist farce, with incisive social commentary, and some comical rough sex tossed in–stars an authoritative Isabelle Huppert as an Internal Affairs Chief Superintendent, and a hilariously frumpified Sandrine Kiberlain, as her assistant, … Continue reading →

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The Birds and The Beavers (Stillwater Diary)

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Mark Stern

Beavers are horrifically efficient.  They start gnawing at a the base of a tree, 20, 30, 40 feet high, soon felling it for the prize they’re after, tender shoots near the top, food for their young.  Other bits build the lodge. … Continue reading →

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These Women’s Army

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Mark Stern

The young female soldiers in writer/director Talya’s Lavie’s super smart and very funny debut feature, “Zero Motivation,” are finding themselves.  Finding themselves in the middle of nowhere (working in the administration unit–secretarial work–at the remote Shizafon Base in Israel’s desert south), … Continue reading →

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Someday December 1st Will Just Be December 1st

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Mark Stern

Cleve Jones, long-time gay rights activist, had the idea for the AIDS Memorial Quilt in 1985 and in Nadine C. Licostie’s new film, “The Last One,” he lovingly shows a quilt he had as a child, made by his great-grandmother from his great-grandfather’s pajamas.  “At an early … Continue reading →

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