On November 15, 2020, NASA and SpaceX partnered to launch a six-month science mission on the International Space Station. Despite the ravages of COVID-19, NASA’s collaboration with this brainchild of Elon Musk, himself a product of an apartheid South African emerald mining fortune, solidifies the “final frontier” as yet another domain for colonial capitalist dominance. […]
Nate’s Top 10 Films of 2014
So many movies released in the past twelve months felt like advertisements that it was nice when the year periodically decided to come back from commercial break. That doesn’t mean that every non-blockbuster was a masterpiece. For every gem like The Grand Budapest Hotel there were duds like Palo Alto or Transcendence. And don’t get me started on The Giver again. I […]
Interstellar with Nate and Søren
Nate’s Review Interstellar surprised me. I walked into the theater expecting to see a bombastic space exploration flick. I did not expect the film to bring me to tears, but it did. The plot is centered on the final frontier, but Christopher Nolan’s latest is more than that. There’s a soul beneath the science-fiction spectacle. […]
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
Heartache has never looked so beautiful. Ned Benson makes his filmmaking debut with an audacious splash, releasing The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby as not one film, but three. The writer-director debuted two other versions of the movie, subtitled Him and Her (told from the male and female protagonist’s perspectives, respectively), at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. The Weinstein Company […]
J and Søren Discuss True Detective
True Detective has been something of a phenomenon. Featuring top-notch acting and intense character-driven mysteries, the show quickly gained a following and has seen record high ratings and critical acclaim over the course of its first season. On Sunday March 9, 2014, the tales of Rust Cohle (Matthew Mcconaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) came to an […]
Dare to Dream of a Better Christopher Nolan
This is a multilayered dreamscape, and you are at its core. You are finished dreaming and would like to regain your consciousness. And in order to ascend, you must get a “kick” to wake up in the next level of the dream world. Under normal circumstances, one can achieve this kick by “dying” – by […]
Søren and J’s Oscarcast 2013
If you were following us on Twitter (and you should be), you’ve already seen bits and pieces of thoughts from the Movie Fail staff on this year’s Oscars ceremony this past Sunday. In this podcast, Josh and I cover everything from the Rhythm and Hues protests to Seth MacFarlane as we discuss the event. Give […]
Understanding Take Shelter
I really liked Take Shelter. As a drama it succeeded in building an emotional bridge between the audience and its characters, and as a thriller it kept the audience guessing about the sanity of its protagonist. The ending of Take Shelter is also well-crafted and multilayered, and is deftly executed by writer/director Jeff Nichols. However, this complexity also leads us […]
Take Shelter
Back in 2011, a little film called Take Shelter made waves in the critical world. Starring Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) and Jessica Chastain (The Help, Tree of Life), Take Shelter explores one man’s struggle with his responsibilities as a father and a husband. Amidst the drama, a helping of science fiction permeates the landscape and throughout the film, the […]
