Email Author Nick Schager

2010 Stories by Nick Schager

• Alien Girl: From Russia With Love for Predictable Crime Genre Tropes

  published December 15, 2010

  There’s no extraterrestrial in Alien Girl; the title of Anton Bormatov’s film actually refers to its human protagonist, a... More >>

• In Bhutto, Telling Pakistan's Story Through Its One-Time Leader's

  published December 1, 2010

  Despite the biodoc implication of its title, Bhutto is not just a portrait of the late Benazir Bhutto, but also a chronological recap of... More >>

• Betrayals of the Heart and Everything Else in Kawasaki's Rose

  published November 24, 2010

  Kawasaki’s Rose pivots around a long-suppressed bombshell, yet there’s little overblown spectacle to Polish filmmaker Jan... More >>

• The Legend of Pale Male: The Bird Is Us

  published November 24, 2010

  Director Frederic Lilien narrates The Legend of Pale Male with Werner Herzog–style grandiosity, setting a comically over-the-top... More >>

• Artist or Con Artist? What Ever Happened to Mark Kostabi?

  published November 10, 2010

  Mark Kostabi was a talented artist and a smug, antagonistic douchebag, both of which made him an art-world celebrity. Con Artist... More >>

• Jerome Robbins's Classic NY Export: Opuz Jazz, Remade and Renewed

  published November 3, 2010

  Rob Marshall could learn a thing or three about transporting dance to the big screen from NY Export: Opus Jazz, an adaptation of Jerome... More >>

• The Title Says It All in Sports Doc Jews and Baseball

  published November 3, 2010

  Delivering exactly what its dry truth-in-advertising title promises, Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story provides a dutiful... More >>

• Fag Hag Meets Fag Stag in Violet Tendencies

  published November 3, 2010

  Mindy Cohn teaches the facts of fag-haggery in Violet Tendencies, a fairy tale that dolls up its rote celebration of staying true to... More >>

• Wandering a Hectic Storyboard with Jolene

  published October 27, 2010

  There’s a reason E.L. Doctorow’s “Jolene: A Life” finally made it to the big screen—what with its episodic-odyssey... More >>

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  Saw 3D: The Same Old Putrid Corpse

  published October 27, 2010

  After its predecessor's vain attempt at newsworthy health-insurance and mortgage-lender commentary, this latest Saw again strives for... More >>

• 'He's Not a Horse. He's Secretariat!'

  published October 6, 2010

  Horses make lousy protagonists, what with their inability to speak, emote, or do much of anything but run or stand around. No surprise, then,... More >>

• De Niro and Norton Face Off in Stone

  published October 6, 2010

  Robert De Niro’s alarm must have finally gone off—in Stone, the actor seems more awake than he has been in years. De Niro is... More >>

• Dissecting Our Fascination With Horror, or Exploiting It, in S&Man

  published September 29, 2010

  J.T. Petty has a canny awareness of the underground horror genre—too canny, in fact, to convincingly sell his documentary about the... More >>

• Bruce Lee Mentor Ip Man Gets His Own Kickass Movie

  published September 29, 2010

  Legend trumps fact in Ip Man, a kickass fictionalized biopic of the titular grandmaster of Wing Chun martial arts and mentor to Bruce... More >>

• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Would Make Pixar Blush

  published September 22, 2010

  Animal Logic, the digital-effects studio responsible for both dancing penguin phenomenon Happy Feet and Zack Snyder phenomenon... More >>

• A Long Night of Being Gay in Strapped

  published September 22, 2010

  A dream odyssey of gay self-definition that's as laborious as it is hollow, Strapped follows a nameless hustler (Ben Bonenfant) through... More >>

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  Hunger Pains in Jorge Michel Grau's We Are What We Are

  published September 22, 2010

  Cannibalism may be the nominal calling card of We Are What We Are, but ritualistic gruesomeness is merely a means for political... More >>

• The Rich Cultural History of Louisville (Yes, Louisville) in Music Makes a City

  published September 15, 2010

  Louisville isn't nationally known as a case study in Confucian philosophy, a mistake rectified by Music Makes a City, an illuminating... More >>

• Last Day of Summer Promises What It Can't Deliver

  published September 15, 2010

  Last Day of Summer promises what it has no intention of delivering, teasing the possibility of cathartic violence as well as an... More >>

• Clear Blue Tuesday Strips 9/11 of Any Cultural/Political Meaning

  published September 1, 2010

  Pretentious profiles in post-9/11 grief and confusion, Clear Blue Tuesday manages the not-inconsiderable feat of insulting both the... More >>

• A South African Tale Told in White Wedding

  published September 1, 2010

  Generic enough that a stateside remake would require only negligible Americanization, Jann Turner's South African–set White... More >>

• Saddam Hussein, Day Laborer, in Baghdad, Texas

  published August 25, 2010

  Working from a what-if premise it has little idea how to handle, Baghdad, Texas follows the sitcom exploits of three Texas ranchers in... More >>

• Nanny McPhee Returns, Needs Spoonful of Sugar and Then Some

  published August 18, 2010

  Disney's dictum that external appearances reflect internal character is promoted by Universal's Nanny McPhee Returns. In director Susanna... More >>

• Life According to That Attendant Guy in The Parking Lot Movie

  published August 4, 2010

  In Charlottesville's nondescript open-air Corner Parking Lot, located near the prosperous University of Virginia, service-industry work is not... More >>

• On Tour in Mundo Alas: Handicapped Musicians and Empty Uplift

  published August 4, 2010

  Following a group of handicapped Argentinean musicians as they embark on a 2007–2008 national tour under the stewardship of famed folk... More >>