November 6th, 2009 | 8:00 pm | Jason Buchanan

For a film that touches on so many challenging and controversial topics -- including sexual and mental/emotional abuse, teen pregnancy, HIV, and illiteracy -- Precious is told with such energy, style, and conviction that it’s impossible not to be awed by the artistry of the film even when we’re shrinking away from the devastation taking place on the screen. Even when things get so grim that all hope seems lost, director Lee Daniels keeps us emotionally involved by merging documentary-style filmmaking with urban surrealism in a way that's genuinely captivating and original. While some may argue that Daniels’ stylistic flourishes have no place in a story like Precious, it’s precisely his bold artistic choices that set the film apart from any number of inner-city underdog stories, and take us into the mind of a young woman whose devastating circumstances are preventing her from reaching her true potential.
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August 6th, 2009 | 6:50 pm | Cammila Alberston

Filmmaker John Hughes, the director of such teen-centric classics as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Ferris Beuler’s Day Off, died today at the age of 59. Hughes passes just as a series of celebrity deaths have reminded us how nothing inspires geyserous outpourings of nostalgia like the mortality of our former heroes. But I think it’s fair to say that Hughes’ work has continued to inspire the same steady stream of deeply personal affection from its viewers since day one.
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