Search Results for: rodney ascher

“I’ll always be a devout fan of Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237 because it’s a treasure chest of endless imaginative theorizing about Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining. I loved the fruit-loop quality. But his latest, a documentary about sleep paralysis called The Nightmare, is almost completely devoid of imaginative riffing of any kind. The film is entirely … Read more

I’ll always be a devout fan of Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237 because it’s a treasure chest of endless imaginative theorizing about Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining. I loved the fruit-loop quality. But his latest, a documentary about sleep paralysis called The Nightmare, is almost completely devoid of imaginative riffing of any kind. The film is entirely … Read more

I don’t have any special inside track on Sundance ’15, but Rupert Goold‘s True Story, a true-life drama about a bizarre relationship between a discredited N.Y. Times journalist (Jonah Hill) and a family murderer (James Franco), is certainly at the top of my list thus far. Based on a memoir by ex-Times reporter Michael Finkel. … Read more

I’ve contemplated the suggestions for HE’s Best of 2013 At The Six-Month Mark, and I just can’t blow off the top-notch films I saw at the Cannes Film Festival (Inside Llewyn Davis, All Is Lost, The Past, Blue Is The Warmest Color, et. al.). If I were to ignore them because they haven’t been released … Read more

2013 will be 25% over as of midnight tonight. One quarter down, another three to go. The first three months are always underwhelming or worse for anyone with a low tolerance for mediocrity, but there are always a few theatrical and cable/streaming standouts. I’ve got 10 goodies listed plus the year’s worst: Best of 2013 … Read more

As a huge fan of Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237, I’m urging everyone to please read a week-old “Vulture”/New York piece by Mark Jacobson called “The Shining Cult at the Overlook Hotel.” Great passion! And as a prelude to a chat I had this morning with Marshall Fine about Room 237, please read Fine’s piece in … Read more

Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237 (IFC Films, 3.29) isn’t just about nutty theories about various hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining — it’s also about echoes and replications of that classic 1980 film. The new poster (a variation of that famous black-and-yellow Shining one-sheet) reflects this attitude. Ditto the slogan’s allusion to the maze outside … Read more

I haven’t seen many March films, but the good ones seem few and far between. By my yardstick the two best will emerge at the end of the month. Wayne Blair‘s The Sapphires (Weinstein Co., 3.22) is a partial knockout, but entirely worth seeing for Chris Dowd‘s landmark performance as a road manager who’s also … Read more

“If you’re any kind of fan of Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining, Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237 is one of the greatest pure-pleasure organisms out there as it very entertainingly explores numerous hidden-meaning interpretations (some fruit-loopy, some fascinating) various folks have found in Kubrick’s 1980 classic. It’s so incredibly dense and labrynthian and jam-packed with thoughts and … Read more

This is Room 237 director Rodney Ascher doing a post-screening q & a at Bloor Hot Docs last night around…oh, 8 pm or thereabouts. If you’re any kind of fan of Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining Ascher’s doc (IFC Films, opening secretly this fall) is one of the greatest pure-pleasure organisms out there as it very … Read more

I’m about to slip into the 12 noon press-and-industry screening of Brian DePalma‘s Passion, which got killed in Venice and hasn’t done any better here (“a campy, uninintentonally hilarious romp“). Then comes Nick Cassevetes‘ Yellow at 3 pm. And finally a revisiting of Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237, a doc about several imaginative and /or obsessive … Read more