“Man versus nature” is one of the classic types of literary conflict. It has existed as a concept for as long as man has. The earliest humans had to battle nature just to survive. Perhaps that is why it has persisted as device in our stories – long before we could fight each other, we had to fight the world itself. In director John Curran’s latest film, Tracks, Mia Wasikowska plays a woman whose disillusionment with society has driven straight into the arms of humanity’s first great enemy.
this is what the old man who lives in my brain looks like
Every once in a while you get a weekend that sees a whole lot of new releases that are more than a little intriguing. As the year winds down, and more and more Academy Awards hopefuls begin to see the light of day, these crowded weekends become more common. This weekend doesn’t see the release of many prestige pictures, but it does premiere several films that I find interesting. I saw Tusk last night, but – in order to fit in everything – today I watched movies about a kid who is really good at mazes, an Irish cop pretending to be American, and a Jewish family who just can’t get their shit together. It’s been quite a day.
getting the band back together, for the first time
The Star Wars train is coming into the station, whether you want it to or not. I personally couldn’t care less, as the entire brand has been in shambles for years. There’s no where to go but up at this point. I’ll see the movie regardless, so the most frustrating part of this process has been the slow trickle of information from the Disney-Lucasfilm mega corporation. All of the secrecy involved in the pre-production phase seems unnecessary, but a crack in the armor of the leviathan has finally been exposed, in the form of a confirmed cast for the yet-un-subtitled Episode VII.
Steven Cohen's 365 Days of Reviews 