Jake Cole

LATEST ARTICLES ( 682 )

• Red State (Kevin Smith, 2011)

  

  Kevin Smith's Red State indirectly posits a future where "ripped-from-the-blogopshere" becomes the new method of stabbing at relevance. Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Zéro De Conduite (Jean Vigo, 1933)

  

  A depiction of childhood innocence and anarchy, Zéro de conduite is nearly as bold a display of Jean Vigo's capacity for capturing reality and the poetry of... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Knock on Any Door (Nicholas Ray, 1949)

  

  [The following is a contribution to the Nicholas Ray Blog-A-Thon for Tony Dayoub's Cinema Viewfinder.] Opening on a quick zoom-in on a cop blowing a whistle, a... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Flying Leathernecks (Nicholas Ray, 1951)

  

  [The following is a contribution to the Nicholas Ray Blog-A-Thon for Tony Dayoub's Cinema Viewfinder.] Though Flying Leathernecks is a solid war movie in terms... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Arbor (Clio Barnard, 2011)

  

  For the first five minutes of The Arbor, I assumed that one of the two actresses appearing on-screen was the subject of the movie, Andrea Dunbar, the late UK... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Three Crowns of the Sailor (Raúl Ruiz, 1983)

  

  A swirling, detached bit of ghost folklore that plays like Orson Welles directing an adaptation of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" filtered through Borges,... Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Brian De Palma: Mission: Impossible

  

  Though not nearly as deconstructive as De Palma's '80s pastiche and travesty, Mission: Impossible feels like a classical, identifiably "'90s," art-for-art's-sak... Read more

  Posted on 23 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Steven Spielberg: A.I. Artificial Intelligence

  Given that my return to A.I. is what prompted my decision to revisit all of Steven Spielberg's films in the first place, I was afraid I had nothing to add to... Read more

  Posted on 23 August 2011 MOVIES

• The Help (Tate Taylor, 2011)

  

  The Help takes the obliviousness of Kathryn Stockett's 2009 hit novel and magnifies it to the level of the dangerously ignorant. The novel at least had the... Read more

  Posted on 22 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

  

  I don't know that a weak documentary could be made about the White Stripes. It Might Get Loud, which boasted the presence of a certifiable guitar god and an... Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC

• Make Way For Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937)

  

  Made in the same year its director also launched Cary Grant to superstardom, Make Way for Tomorrow was always Leo McCarey's favorite project, and he even said a... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)

  

  Tod Browning's freak empathy, honed by a life on the road with all the sundry acts of vaudeville and carnival that his final profession would eventually kill... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Capsule Reviews: Gentleman Jim, The Roman Orgy, The Killers (1946)

  

  Gentleman Jim (Raoul Walsh, 1942)Walsh doesn't get nearly enough credit for his technique, but maybe that's because it's all in the service of making good,... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2011 MOVIES

• Capsule Reviews: Platinum Blonde, The Mad Monk, The Lodger

  

  Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra, 1931)Now this is more like it. Capra gets it all together with a rip-snorting good time with newspaper idealism, dialogue you... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2011 MOVIES

• Under Capricorn (Alfred Hitchcock, 1949)

  

  Today, many attribute the box office failure of Alfred Hitchcock's 1949 opus Under Capricorn to it not being a thriller. That, obviously, is true, but the... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Capsule Reviews: The Smiling Lieutenant, Ménilmontant, The Miracle Woman

  

  The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch, 1931)A delightfully wicked musical that puts the Lubitsch touch on full display, The Smiling Lieutenant has the... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)

  

  With some 60 films to his name a mere 16 years after starting in the film industry, Kenji Mizoguchi certainly had enough on-the-job training to get his act down. Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Capsule Reviews: The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Lost Weekend

  

  The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946)On the basis of film noir, were I husband in the '40s, I'd never allow my wife to speak with another man. Not... Read more

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

• Baby Face (Alfred E. Green, 1933)

  

  There is something indefinite about Barbara Stanwyck's overpowering effect, a subconscious response triggered by an almost imperceptible shift in body language. Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Modern Romance (Albert Brooks, 1981)

  

  After I found Real Life so brilliant, layered and prescient that I scuttled my planned review entirely so I could revisit it first, I insisted on jotting down... Read more

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