By Brian Lafferty

October 14, 2011 (San Diego) – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ended on a famous freeze frame shot. It was right up there with the famous shot of Antoine Doinel looking at the camera to cap Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. The Bolivian army surrounded Butch and Sundance. They emerged from hiding, guns blazing. The movie ended on a freeze frame of the two with the sound of gunfire blasting away.

By Brian Lafferty

October 14, 2011 (San Diego) – Weekend is not to be confused with the 1967 Jean-Luc Godard film by the same name. This Weekend, a British import, is in some ways like a Henry Jaglom film in that it’s high on the dialogue meter and all about relationships. What separates Weekend from Henry Jaglom’s films are that it isn’t self-indulgent, it’s an honest portrayal of relationships, and the characters and conversations are worthy of my time and yours.

By Brian Lafferty

October 7, 2011 (San Diego) – The Mill and the Cross is one of the year’s most original films. That’s not something I’ve been able to say a lot this year…or last year, for that matter. It’s the first movie to the best of my knowledge that combines the art of painting with the art of filmmaking. It’s so original and unique that explaining the concept to my friends presented much difficulty. You’ll just have to take my word for it and head to the Ken Cinema.

By Brian Lafferty

October 7, 2011 (San Diego) – The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is a challenging movie not just in content but also in making me think about my response to it. It’s so easy for a critic to say that he likes or dislikes a film, especially when engaging in dialogue, rather than written expression. When a movie like this comes along, it’s not so black and white.

By Brian Lafferty

September 23, 2011 (San Diego) – A few years ago I watched the 1959 version of Ben-Hur. I sat in my seat mesmerized, so hooked that I did not take a single break during the entire three hours and forty-five minutes (which included the overture and intermission).

By Brian Lafferty

July 9, 2011 (San Diego) – The Trip is a Reader’s Digest condensed version of the hit British TV sitcom of the same name. Normally sitcoms and cinema go as well together as peanut butter and mayonnaise. Director Michael Winterbottom reverses this trend with a film that makes a smooth transition from the small screen to the big screen.

By Brian Lafferty

June 10, 2011 (San Diego) – The Tree of Life isn’t merely a movie. To call it an experience would be putting it mildly. It’s films like this that make me say, “This is why I go to the movies.” Only one other movie elicited such a response from me since I’ve been a film critic and it happened to be the best film of 2010: Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void.

By Brian Lafferty

May 6, 2011 (San Diego) – The Princess of Montpensier is a movie that demands your utmost attention. I barely wrote down any notes out of fear I’d miss something important. The entire film hinges on every line of dialogue and every character’s actions. This likely explains why the two hour and nineteen minute running time flies by rapidly.