* This is going to be a short one, because, frankly, the thrust of my argument can be reduced to a single, irrefutable statement: Die Hard is the greatest Christmas movie ever made. With Thanksgiving behind us and the commercialized Christian co-opting of winter solstice rapidly approaching, let’s embrace the spirit of the season by coming [...]

* My discussion with writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) continues. Check out the first installment to get up to speed. PP: You mentioned being inspired by Prague: how so? RJ: I went there on vacation with my dad several years before I wrote the script, and it seemed like the perfect place for [...]

* Writer/director Rian Johnson burst onto the American independent film scene with 2005’s Brick, for which he won a special jury prize at Sundance. The neo-noir murder mystery is unlike anything else, a truly singular film featuring hardboiled detective story dialogue set in modern day suburban California. In response to a review of his excellent [...]