Jake Cole

LATEST ARTICLES ( 682 )

• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011)

  

  Expanding upon the style that brought him international fame with 2008's Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson makes a chilly, claustrophobic character drama ou... Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987)

  

  Benardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor offers no sense of comfort for its titular subject. Its present, set in a post-Mao China, is cast in pallid grays, a... Read more

  Posted on 03 December 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, 2011)

  

  I have always defended cynicism, even outright despair, as a valid form of creative expression from those who feel that all art must affirm. Read more

  Posted on 02 December 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Steve McQueen's "Shame" Reviewed

  

  Michael Fassbender only just exploded on the international scene a few years ago, but to see him in Shame, one half expects him to keel over any second. After... Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Beginners (Mike Mills, 2011)

  

  As precious as it can be, Mike Mills' Beginners overcomes its occasional indie accoutrements—twee, arty montages à la Wes Anderson abound—to tell a moving... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Island of Lost Souls (Eric C. Kenton, 1932)

  

  The film opens on a thick sea fog, a ship piercing out of the mist as if a ghost vessel. When deckhands spot a man floating limply in the water, this feeling... Read more

  Posted on 26 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Bill Condon, 2011)

  

  Only the most cynical financial motivation could lead anyone to split Breaking Dawn, the conclusion to Stephenie Meyer's embarrassing and tedious tetralogy abou... Read more

  Posted on 26 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Richard Ellmann — James Joyce

  

  Richard Ellmann's James Joyce is, quite simply, the best artistic biography I've ever read. Like the work of David McCullough, Ellmann's book is not only... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Muppets (James Bobin, 2011)

  

  Not three minutes go by in The Muppets before the filmmakers flaunt their unabashed reverence for Jim Henson's beloved creations. Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011)

  

  For the six people out there who still love 3D, Hugo will be the film of the year. To be sure, no other film from any year is so well-suited for the format. Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Film Club: Limelight

  

  I greatly enjoyed my first film club chat with Allison of Nerdvampire and was ecstatic when she picked a real blind spot in my movie watching with Charlie... Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, 2011)

  Getting the chance to sleep for a few days on Paddy Considine's feature debut Tyrannosaur didn't do the film any favors. While I still felt it distanced itself... Read more

  Posted on 21 November 2011 MOVIES

• J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood, 2011)

  

  J. Edgar is a film about a legend who cared only for respect, made by a man who seems to care only for awards. Clint Eastwood, the most shameless Oscar-baiter... Read more

  Posted on 19 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Mill and the Cross (Lech Majewski, 2011)

  

  I cannot say that The Mill and the Cross fully captivated me, for I confess I was lost during some stretches of its plotless reverie. Nevertheless, at no point... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Incendies (Denis Villeneuve, 2011)

  

  For a film that can be so smart, Incendies sure does suffer from some amateurish mistakes. A mystery concerning the unraveling of two twins' lives in the wake o... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within (José Padilha, 2011)

  I hated the first Elite Squad so much I could barely deign to give it a capsule review. The sequel, which initially seems like more of the same, thankfully... Read more

  Posted on 16 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011)

  

  [Warning—contains spoilers]I can think of no useful way to break down Pedro Almodóvar's stunningly transgressive The Skin I Live In without using spoilers.... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Film Club: Day For Night

  Before Halloween, one of my very best Internet friends, Allison, proposed we watch a horror film we'd never seen and chat about it on our sites. Read more

  Posted on 12 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Rum Diary (Bruce Robinson, 2011)

  

  Seeing Bruce Robinson attached to The Rum Diary made me want to see the adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel far more than even Johnny Depp's return as the... Read more

  Posted on 11 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Beneath the Earth Film Festival

  OK gang, so recently I was a judge for the Beneath the Earth Film Festival, which showcased short films by up-and-comers looking to prove their stuff. Read more

  Posted on 10 November 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO