Jason Schwartzman

News, Reviews & Features
  • Review: Wine Country is a waste of a great ensemble cast

    Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 17th June 2019

    One thing that fascinates me about film-making is not the how of how movies are made, but the when. We see stars grow in real time these days and very often, once their careers have developed enough, they become producers - meaning the shows and films we watch follow their whims. That explains why we get a glut of movies about having babies, followed by a wave of thirties singleton rom-coms, and these subjects mould the wider zeitgeist. And now we're entering what should be the most interesting phase, where all your favourite stars are burnt out and holding grudges: the mid-life crisis. Fight! Fight! Fight!

  • Saving Mr Banks

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 26th November 2013

    As obvious an awards tilt as Disney knows Saving Mr Banks to be, it seems more of a mid-budget passion project. How better to venerate its beloved founder than have cuddly ol' Tom Hanks play him? But transparent self-promotion aside - this is Disney, after all - what's really interesting is how it plays out as white-washing advocacy for the process of Hollywoodizing a popular product, using emotion rather than reason to sweep you along and make you root for the studio. And the fact that the film is itself a Hollywoodization of true events.

  • Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

    Movie Review | Ali | 15th August 2010

    The next time someone tells you about how 3D is the future of cinema, sit them down in front of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, preferably on the biggest screen you can find, and watch their jaw hit the floor. Here we have a film that's so sharp, so visually stimulating and so whip-smart, it positively crackles with energy. It may well be the best-looking movie of its generation. 3D is where it's at, huh? Spare me. The future of cinema lies in the hands of filmmakers like Edgar Wright.

  • Fantastic Mr. Fox

    Movie Review | Anna | 26th October 2009

    Wes Anderson has always combined the neuroticism of Woody Allen with the visual flair of Michel Gondry to examine an assortment of fucked up families. Not exactly a winning formula for a kid's film, so it was a surprising move for Anderson to turn his attention to Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. It shouldn't, but the melding of the over-active imaginations of Dahl and Anderson just about works.

  • Funny People

    Movie Review | Ali | 26th August 2009

    I'll make no bones about it: I'm a huge Judd Apatow fan. I count The 40 Year-Old Virgin as one of the most underrated comedies of the past decade (there's just something about this scene that slays me every time) and consider Knocked Up to be a near faultless comedy - one that wears its heart on its big dumb soppy sleeve.

  • The Darjeeling Limited

    Movie Review | Ali | 18th November 2007

    Wes Anderson is one divisive dude. For every person who sees his movies as kitsch odysseys where dysfunctional families trade witty insults to an ultra-hip indie soundtrack, there's someone shrugging their shoulders, wondering why everyone is getting so excited by a scarf-wearing ponce making films about unbearably twee assholes...