Aaron Ensweiler - The Daily Cardinal

NEWS

‘The Lookout’ Worth a Look

By Aaron Ensweiler | Apr. 9, 2007

Before coming aboard to direct himself, Scott Frank's script for the ""The Lookout"" was courted by the likes of Sam Mendes, David Fincher and Michael Mann. Watching the film, it's little wonder why. ""The Lookout"" is a rare thriller for adults—the kind of film that knows carefully drawn characters are far more thrilling than car chases. In a time when one need only turn to the closest multiplex to see that the thriller is a dying genre, ""The Lookout"" breathes new life into the heist film, giving audiences characters they can care about and making the body count count.

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Sandler proves he cannot ‘reign over’ drama

By Aaron Ensweiler | Mar. 25, 2007

Adam Sandler has built a career out of playing characters whose internal logic is so skewed as to render them unrecognizable as human beings. Over the years, he has portrayed a stuttering waterboy, the son of Satan and a man given a remote control that can alter time and space. Nevertheless, it's in his newest dramatic turn, Mike Binder's ""Reign Over Me,"" that Sandler plays his least believable character yet—a Sept. 11 widower.

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‘Sweet Land’ bores despite its beauty

By Kayla Torgerson and Caitlin Gath and Aaron Ensweiler | Feb. 13, 2007

John Keats famously wrote, A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness."" Ali Selim seems to have taken these words to heart in his first feature film, ""Sweet Land."" Set in 1920s rural Minnesota, the film is a study in beauty, wearing its nostalgia on its sepia-toned sleeve. All the elements are there: rustic baseball games, an old victrola pouring waltzes over the corn fields, midnight walks beneath the aurora borealis and a local priest who quotes""well""Keats of course. It's unfortunate that in a film of almost painterly beauty, Selim's narrative should plod along at such a glacial pace, making for a viewing experience that, appropriately enough, is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

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‘The Aura’ glows with Bielinsky’s fitting final touch

By Aaron Ensweiler | Feb. 8, 2007

Shoot first, ask questions later. It's a statement that has become clichAc in a long history of Hollywood thrillers, from Bogart's hard-boiled detectives to Craig's new Bond. In ""The Aura,"" however, the late FabiA¡n Bielinsky gives the formula a fascinating new twist, examining what happens when his character shoots first, and is left to fill in the blanks himself.

NEWS

Soderbergh’s new film ‘good,’ nostalgic and beautiful

By Aaron Ensweiler | Jan. 28, 2007

The Good German"" is a curiosity of a film""a homage to 1940s noir classics without the hard-boiled dialogue, a vivid aesthetic recreation rife with narrative anachronisms and a nostalgic celebration of the silver screen without a shred of sentimentality. It's no wonder that Warner Bros. has all but given up on marketing the film, which when combined with lukewarm reception by New York and Los Angeles critics will likely lead to the film's quick burial among the DVD racks, perhaps alongside the very films from which it borrows""most notably: ""Casablanca,"" ""The Third Man"" and ""A Foreign Affair."" While not likely to connect with mainstream audiences, however, the film is still a joy to behold, and should prove a worthwhile viewing experience for film students and cinephiles alike.

NEWS

Kang’s derivative indie a good, but not great, debut

By Aaron Ensweiler | Oct. 1, 2006

Strangely enough, Michael Kang's sleepy indie debut, ""The Motel,"" arrives in theaters as an excellent companion piece to ""Jackass: Number Two."" After all, both films are about suffering, adolescence and male protagonists acting badly. Whereas Johnny Knoxville and his crew can hardly go two minutes without exposing their genitals, however, Kang's film shows something far more revealing—heart.

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Stark documentary examines Katrina’s effect on animals

By Aaron Ensweiler | Sep. 17, 2006

In late September 2005, documentary filmmaker Mike Shiley learned that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and FEMA's lackluster rescue efforts, more than 50,000 dogs and cats had been left behind. Packing his belongings, he purchased a plane ticket and made his way to New Orleans.

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Like ‘Speed,’ but a person!

By Aaron Ensweiler | Sep. 6, 2006

It's estimated that Americans see tens of thousands of simulated deaths by the time they turn 18. Watching Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's ""Crank,"" it's not difficult to imagine why. Playing like ""Speed"" for the ""Grand Theft Auto"" crowd, ""Crank,"" the self-proclaimed ""ultimate ADD movie,"" is a popcorn flick for those who like their action with a side of arterial spray, a nihilistic exercise in which the story goes nowhere and does it fast.

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Weak characters prove not everything 'Illuminated'

By Aaron Ensweiler | Oct. 18, 2005

\Everything is Illuminated,"" based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foers, is a Russian doll of a film-a Holocaust drama inside of a road trip movie that is wrapped in ' ¦'

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Lesson to be learned from 'Violence'

By Aaron Ensweiler | Oct. 3, 2005

David Cronenberg's \A History of Violence"" is one of few movies where each death is so vivid, it's nearly impossible to lose track of the body count. The villains in ' ¦'